NICE road has not-so-nice hassles

NICE road has not-so-nice hassles
Deccan Herald

Driving down the 9-km stretch between Mysore Road and Kanakapura Road that was recently thrown open by NICE as part of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, the expressway experience is hard to miss.....

Driving down the 9-km stretch between Mysore Road and Kanakapura Road that was recently thrown open by NICE as part of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, the expressway experience is hard to miss. However, perhaps equally unmissable is the question of safety on the road.

Except for a sorry-looking ‘Go slow, work in progress’ signboard at the beginning of the stretch, there are no safety signs to warn the motorists of the dangers that might lurk ahead. And, dangers there are aplenty. Unlike projects that employ traditional engineering methods – where blasting is done mostly towards evening and after that – this project seems to have its own way of going about things. Just before 3 pm, an un-supervised blast was executed, bringing the traffic to a halt, thanks to the rubble strewn all over the road. Commuters were welcomed by the strong smell of explosives, and a deserted road.

For a project that boasts of international safety standards, the number of loopholes it has overlooked comes across as appaling. It takes plain common sense to note that even for a ‘soft opening’ of any road, minimal precautionary measures to ensure road safety are imperative.

Kheny’s defence

NICE Managing Director Ashok Kheny said, “My workers were threatened with death by some JD(S) workers, 10 days before the opening of the road. They were tied up and immobilised.”

Even while stating that he was particular about safety measures, he agreed that there had been a safety lapse. “Many of my workers ran away and the police complaint that I had lodged, is lost. The police is yet to give protection to my workers,” he said.

About the workers not sporting their gear, Kheny said they were not used to working with such gear on, and had stopped using them after a day.

LOOSE ENDS

*No safety sign boards; post-rains, loose stones fall off sidewalls

* Sharp bends and curves; only a handful of direction boards

* Badly constructed drains along the sides of the road

* Very few barricades on the stretch, which has many embankments

* No reflectors on barricades or on the bridges to warn commuters

* Men at work on the stretch are not equipped with workers’ gear.

FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

Total land (both government and private) required for the entire project - 111 km expressway, road

network connecting Bangalore city to Expressway (all toll roads) and five townships as per the Frame Work Agreement as given in the table.

Govt Pvt Total

Toll Road 1499 5500 6999*

Township1 328 2447 2775

Township2 614 1222 1836

Township3 684 931 1615

Township4 2592 90 2682

Township5 1239 3047 4286

Total 6956 13237 20193

* Land requirement in acres