Bengaluru: When shops, restaurants and even convention centres boomed in Bhavani Nagar near Bannerghatta Road, Sarvanan beamed with pride as real estate prices shot up in his neighbourhood.
But a little over a decade down the line, he and his family are a frustrated lot. “Our neighbours have moved out, the area has become a commercial hub and the traffic is choked round the clock. This is not the development we had hoped for,” lamented a 75-year-old Saravanan.
Much like Namma Bengaluru’s own transition to an IT hub, Bhavani Nagar has transformed from a sleepy suburb to a bustling trade centre. However the government officials have done little to improve the traffic condition and civic amenities in the area, and hence it is a nightmare for motorists and pedestrians.
“Bannerghatta Road is a better planned real estate market with residential, commercial and adequate office spaces, whereas neither the BDA nor the BBMP anticipated or prepared themselves for growth in Bhavani Nagar. Today, areas like Bhavani Nagar, Bharathi Layout, Bismillah Nagar are chaotic. People live in cramped surroundings with inadequate water supply, narrow roads and rising lawlessness,” Kamlesh, a mechanical engineer pointed out.
A walk down Bhavani Nagar around 7 pm, underlines Kamlesh’s frustration. It is riddled with chaotic traffic, irregular parking, loud honking and garbage pile ups.
Krishna, a vendor, said, “The roads are already narrow and the traffic cops don’t want to make it a one-way. The BBMP is not interested in widening the road, but doesn’t mind giving permission to schools and convention centres. There are four convention centres and none of them have parking facility. All the vehicles get parked on the road and when there is a wedding function, traffic gets blocked for hours.”
Vasuki, who runs a shop, pitches in, “Forget summer, we don’t get water on other days too. The pourakarmikas don’t want to collect garbage from the area and women take the easy way out by dumping them on the road than segregate it.”
Despite many protests, the BBMP officials and the corporator have not done anything to solve the mess, the residents allege.
Convention centres do not cooperate: Inspector, Mico Layout traffic police
There are lots of complaints regarding traffic congestion in Bhavani Nagar. Why no action has been taken so far?
The traffic police, in their capacity, have done their best to improve the traffic management. On a trial basis, the Bhavani Nagar road was closed and traffic was diverted towards Bismillah Nagar. But we realised that road too doesn’t have the capacity to hold high volume of traffic. Hence, the traffic movement was reverted.
There are many convention centres in one road and none of them have parking facilities. Why has nothing been done to prevent illegal parking?
Despite our request to these convention centres to inform us in advance about the functions, so that we can make alternate parking arrangements, they do not cooperate.
Although we have installed no-parking signboards, illegal parking is rampant. Traffic congestion is acute when these convention centres host weddings, otherwise it’s manageable.
Any recommendations or suggestions to improve the traffic situation?
We have closed open drains, removed illegal encroachments and in association with BBMP the roads have been re-laid. Earlier, when the roads were in bad condition, the number of traffic complaints was much higher.
