IIM-B now plans strategy to manage road mess

IIM-B now plans strategy to manage road mess
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: A day after their rasta-roko on Bannerghatta Road -- the ‘last resort’ to creating public awareness on the deplorable state of the road -- the staff and students of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) have decided to take it up with various government departments for a permanent solution.

But negotiations and deliberations are not the cup of tea of local people who had joined the protest that blocked traffic for three hours on Monday. ‘‘We will wait for the 10 days they (the authorities) had asked for. After that, we will paralyse the entire area if things do not change for the better,’’ fumed many.

But the IIM-B students who spearheaded the agitation do not want to create further public nuisance through intensified agitation. ‘‘Monday’s protest definitely had its impact in creating an awareness. But various departments still blame each other and lack proper coordination. We now want to find out what went wrong and where,’’ said IIM-B Students’ Council president Srikanth Nayak.

IIM-B, in fact, had organised a meeting of officials from various government departments, including PWD, BESCOM and Bommanahalli Municipal Council two months back to find a solution to the traffic woes on the Bannerghatta Road. ‘‘Though I do not support protests of this kind, that was the only option left when polite methods failed to yield results,’’ said Prof. R. Sreenivasan, Dean (Academic).

If IIM students can be driven to war, he said, imagine what others are capable of doing? ‘‘Our intention was to draw attention and we are ready for a patient wait if things begin to happen in the desired direction,’’ he added.

But Kaushik Ramu, coordinator, Student Media Cell, has another point to make. ‘‘There is a common notion that IIM-B students are elitists and do not take part in public campaigns. We are concerned about public issues and Monday’s protest has shattered the myth.’’

Extending an outside support is Jens Hassenthaler, a management student from the European Business School, Germany who is on a three-month exchange programme at IIM-B. ‘‘I witnessed the agitation and it shows people are not satisfied. Hope this is an eye-opener to the concerned authorities.’’ Bangalore is a thriving hi-tech city and it should not fail to provide the basic infrastructure, he added.

‘‘And for that, what we need is coordination between various government agencies,’’ reiterated final year students Shiv Pratim Chowdary and Faiz Azim. ‘‘You can’t cause too much public nuisance by staging repeated rasta-rokos,’’ they said. The IIM-B students achieved what they intended. The local people comprising shopowners, employees and auto drivers are now ready for harsher methods after the 10-day deadline. ‘‘This 10-day business is just an eyewash. Mere filling of potholes will not suffice. We will intensify the agitation,’’ said Manjunath Babu, manager of Vasudev Adiga’s Nalapak.

‘‘They are filling the potholes with building debris which will not last a single rain. We all pay tax, but the government does not heed our demands,’’ said N. Rajasekhar, manager of Bharath Steels and Cements on the same road.

Ganesh, an auto driver, feels Monday’s protest was inevitable. ‘‘Something has to be done on a war footing. We are not willing to ply the route causing trouble to ourselves or people,’’ he said.