Ground reality and flyover plans

Ground reality and flyover plans
The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is planning a few dozen flyovers where none is needed. Not a single existing flyover has taken off without vociferous agitations and has never been completed on schedule. Smitha Rao drives BMP commissioner K Jothiramalingam into a corner.
The Times of India

How is it you plan projects for the greater common good without gauging public opinion? Cases in point, Ramakrishna ashram flyover, National College flyover, Modi Road underpass.

Newton’s law says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For any project, it is quite possible that some people have negative thoughts and express their agitation. Even at the Traffic Task Force, one school of thought says the city needs only ring roads, yet another says we don’t need the Anand Rao Circle flyover. There is a corporator, MLA, for every area, and they have to conduct public debates. Why, during the BMP budget session every year, not one corporator raised a voice of dissent. Besides, the main purpose of a flyover is not necessarily speed-up time of travel.

Citizens are fed up that the flyovers and underpasses planned for them serve no purpose, traffic jams continue routinely. Does the BMP even realise this?
At Rajajinagar Entrance underpass, the full benefit of the project won’t be realised till we complete straightening of the road till Khoday’s Circle. This will help traffic up to K R Circle via Anand Rao Circle, uninterrupted. The way traffic growth has been spiralling, if we ensure that five years from now the time of travel continues to be 30 minutes between two points, the flyover is an achievement, it would have served its purpose.

Who decides the location, length and kind of projects required for areas in Bangalore?
There have been four expert studies conducted on traffic and related issues: these studies have identified locations for 40 flyovers of which there is a priority for 20-25 flyovers in the first phase. We also take into account the inputs we get from public platforms like PROOF. People’s expressions of needs have always been taken into account. And it’s not like a political representative can push some projects. For instance two years ago, the Council passed a resolution of having a flyover in each ward which was rejected by the government. BMP engineers are not traffic experts.

The roads of Bangalore are a casualty. Like CM Dharam Singh himself said, why is there no visibility of the ‘work worth crores’ that you’re doing?

Road work is an infrastructure project, and such projects have gestation periods. Can a woman deliver a child in five months? Similarly perfect roads and infrastructure developments cannot happen overnight. There are 30 teams going across the city, three nights in a week taking up roads and potholes.

Many flyovers and underpasses have been on paper since 2000 but with righteous budgetary allocations. South End Circle flyover, Rs 11 crore since 2000, Minerva Circle flyover, Rs 7.7 crore, etc. Explain.

Budgetary provisions have been there. The money is not spent, only allocated, it is only provisions for the projects to take off. They have been carried over.

In the DOCK
Name: K Jothiramalingam
Age: 53
Designation: Commissioner, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike
Qualification: IAS; MBA from Southern Cross University, Australia; M.A. (Sociology)
Address: Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, N.R.Square, Bangalore — 560 002
The IAS officer has spanned a diverse range of subjects both in his education — Sociology, Business, Civic Administration — and vocation. His first professional assignment was as Assistant Commissioner, Madikeri, in 1980 and then on, has gone on to serve as Secretary to the Government, Medical Education Department, Managing Director, KPTCL, and has been the Commissioner of BMP since July 3, 2004.


VERDICT BENEFIT OF DOUBT
A RAVINDRA
Former chief secretary to the state government.
Jothiramalingam himself has many inherited problems. Firstly, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has to share a lot of responsibilities. They have to be clear about the need for so many flyovers keeping in view the overall plan for the city. The committee will only do what it has been asked to and just offer suggestions. There has to be a total traffic plan for Bangalore taking into account the number of roads and the arrival of Metro Rail. Once Metro comes in, do we need flyovers? More flyovers mean more vehicles. That can never contain traffic congestion.