Bazaar Street bears the brunt of one-way rule

Bazaar Street bears the brunt of one-way rule
The Hindu

Heavy traffic and potholes are a common feature on Bazaar Street in Ulsoor. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE, NOV. 1. A continuation of Ulsoor Road, parts of Ulsoor Bazaar Street take you to a scene which fits more into small rural towns. The trouble starts where the street is at its narrowest for about 100 metres, where it takes a sharp turn.

The shopkeepers in the vicinity, including a medical store, a wine shop and stalls selling newspapers and magazines recall that four months ago, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had carried out major repairs to a storm water drain. Once dug up, the stretch was never properly repaired again and it becomes flooded after every downpour, they say.

One-way

The street shot into prominence and has become a thoroughfare after Old Madras Road was converted into a one-way near Lido cinema. Right through the day, vehicles going towards Cambridge Layout and Indiranagar are forced to use the Bazaar Street as a short cut. The street itself is one-way, with no entry from the circle near Ulsoor police station. This junction has lately been saved from traffic chaos, thanks to the installation of traffic signals.

Business hit

The one-way rule means all entry to Bazaar Street has to be from the Kensington Road side. As a businessman described it: "People in Ulsoor have no direct entry to the Bazaar Street, they have to take a roundabout route through Tirnity Circle... this affects our business."

The shopkeepers here long for the old days when entry was from the opposite direction and one-way was behind Someswara Temple, through Car Street. Apart from this ancient temple, Bazaar Street also leads to the Subramanya Temple and Kempamma temple in the area and to the Shirdi Saibaba Mandir in Cambridge Layout. Access to these temples has now become a problem because of the one-way regulations all around, according to those with stalls offering puja articles.

`No alternative'

The traffic police say that they have no alternative because of the heavy volume of traffic on the main roads. To some extent, the local shopkeepers have contributed to traffic congestion on Bazaar Street by insisting on parking space around the Hanuman temple and on Car Street.

What the local residents and traders want is repairs to the worst stretches of Bazaar Street, now that the rainy season is ending. "And the repairs should make the strong enough to survive the next rainy season," the say.

Delay

The Ulsoor corporator, M. Saravana, said that the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike had spent over Rs. 5 lakh on asphalting Bazaar Street in the last one and half years.

A portion of the street has been dug up by the BWSSB to lay water pipes. "The work is being executed by Larsen and Toubro and the delay in restoring the portion is because of them. The stretch will be redone as soon as they complete work," he said.