Of killer stretches

Of killer stretches
Deccan Herald

That Bangalore’s roads are far from what quality standards demand is common knowledge. What is not so well known is that some of them are literally killer stretches. The Kaigondanahalli Main Road on Sarjapur Road is a case in example.

That Bangalore’s roads are far from what quality standards demand is common knowledge. What is not so well known is that some of them are literally killer stretches. The Kaigondanahalli Main Road on Sarjapur Road is a case in example.

Statistics read thus: Six months, four deaths in road accidents, and many a hair’s breadth escape from death in a road accident.

Asphalt on one half, jelly on the other half make this road. The result is that every small vehicular movement raises a dust smoke. It renders the road dividers or barricades invisible and the streetlights ineffective. Then there is the cueless mobile police team. Motoring on this stretch is indeed a challenge.

Six months ago, it was three people belonging to the same family.

The victims were on their way to shop for the birthday of a little one in their family. All three were killed when they were hit by a lorry.

The long-suffering locals in the area were at their tether’s end last week, when a tipper lorry ran over a flower vendor, Yashodamma killing her on the spot; they set afire the lorry.

Senior police officers who reached the spot calmed the enraged lot assuring them that the road would be set right soon. Till date no action is seen to have been taken on that front.

Soon after a turn on the Kaigondanahalli Main Road from the Agara Main Road, motorists are likely to think that the drive ahead is easy.

But it is not to be. Before long one is faced with heavy and light vehicles coming at break-neck speed from the opposite direction; and they don’t seem to follow traffic rules any.

The asphalt on one side and the jelly on the other only compounds the situation.

In an area that houses six to seven apartment complexes and some multi-national firms, a neat stretch of road is difficult to find.

The road leading to the Amrita Engineering College from the Kaigondanahalli bus stand is both narrow and unmotorable.

A resident, Sridhar noted that the electricity line has been drawn from Koramangala for the benefit of software companies but no connection has been provided for streetlighting.

A PWD official, Mr Narayan said that asphalting work would be completed soon. One can only hope that it will be done before the rains pick up.