Chaos rules six-lane M G Road

Chaos rules six-lane M G Road
Deccan Herald

Serpentine vehicle queues, traffic snarls that refuse to quieten, frantic hunt for non-existent parking spaces and pedestrians who dash across with no care for zebra crossings! Welcome to the circus-show that is unfurled every weekend on the ‘zero-tolerance’ MG Road.

But how can there be any order when nearly 50,000 vehicles ply on MG Road stretch on Saturdays alone? Sadly, this is the situation even after barring autos on this stretch during peak hours between 4 pm and 10 pm on Saturdays. Even introducing of parallel parking for four-wheelers on this six-lane-road has not made much of a difference.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic -East) M A Salim, nearly 6,000 to 7,000 Passenger Car Units (PCU) ply on this road between 6 pm and 8 pm on Saturdays.

But would the scenario be any different in the days to come in a city where 800 new vehicles hit the road every day? This dismal situation is unlikely to improve as there is no lid on registration of new vehicles nor any regulations in place to control the traffic.

Enquiries at the police department revealed that it has no immediate plans for de-congestion by either imposing some more restrictions on vehicle parking or movement. The same is the case with Bangalore Development Authority and Bangalore Mahangara Palike.

Mr Salim says new plans and proposals would be formulated only if the proposed metro rail disrupts traffic movement on that stretch. “As of now, we don’t have any new plans or strategies,” he said.

Meanwhile, traffic personnel are having a harrowing time bringing a semblance of order on this stretch. The existing strategies reveal that traffic personnel are doubled on Saturdays and each of them are expected to work on two shifts on these days.

“People should just stop buying vehicles,” is the unanimous quip among them all.

According to Assistant Sub Inspector Thimmarayappa, 13 traffic personnel including one inspector and ACP each, three Sub inspectors, two Assistant Sub Inspectors and seven police constables are stationed on the 450-meter stretch between Anil Kumble Circle and Cauvery Emporium junction on weekends.

“Even manual traffic control and switching off the traffic signals on Saturdays to de-congest the roads according to vehicle density has not helped either,” he said.

The problems of the traffic police don’t end there. “Visitors want to park their cars even if parking space is not available. Their refusal to walk if their cafe or restaurant is a few blocs away only aggravates the situation,” said traffic personnel C K Narasimhaiah Murthy.