Public stage protest over nightmarish road

Protest staged over nightmarish road
Deccan Herald

To draw the attention of the authorities towards the bad condition of the Bannerghatta-Anekal State highway, thousands of people in three villages of Anekal taluk staged a demonstration and blocked traffic on the road for half a day.
Villagers shut off the roads between 9 am and 1 pm at Haragadde, Madapatna and Jigani on Monday.

Shops in the Jigani industrial area, where the protest was led by Mr H S Basavaraju, former zilla panchayat president of Bangalore Urban district, and Anekal Legislator A Narayanswamy, remained closed till noon.
There were instances of burning of tyres in several places all along the road and at the entrance to the Bannerghatta National Park.

Thousands of pamphlets calling for the protest were distributed among the public at some villages along the road during the last three days.

Assurance

Result: The public responded spontaneously on Monday. The protesters withdrew their agitation only after PWD Executive Engineer Ravindra Babu and Chief Engineer Muninarayanaswamy visited the spot and inspected the badly-marred stretches of the road and assured that he would fill up all the potholes within a week.

Mr Basavaraju said that dense traffic and the bad condition of the road had led to several accidents in the past.

The road passes through Bilekahalli, Arakere, Gottigere, Bannerghatta, Jungalpalya, Koppa Gate, Harapanahalli, Jigani, Haragadde and Anekal. The arterial road provides access to areas including Bannerghatta National Park, Jigani Industrial area, Sarala Birla Academy and a number of resorts, brick factories and Anekal taluk headquarters.

Mr Basavaraju said that the road had a capacity to carry only loads of 10 to 15 tonnes, but truck trailers carrying granite slabs weighing 30 to 40 tonnes, ply to the 120-odd granite factories located in the areas — thus causing damage and potholes.

At Bilekahalli, the Madivala Traffic Zone has been regulating the traffic. The traffic police on Monday were supervising an operation of filling potholes using building materials and debris of bricks.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Puttuswamy, who was controlling traffic and supervising the operation simultaneously, said that the situation was worse when it rained. PWD Minister H D Revanna recently said that Rs 30 crore had been released for repairs and filling-up of potholes on this road and warned officials that action would be taken against them if the road was not set right.