Work on Malleswaram underpass stopped until further notice

Work on Malleswaram underpass stopped until further notice

The Hindu

Health Minister inspects construction site; says plan seems unscientific

# Construction work began on Sunday despite protests by residents
# Report to be sent to Chief Minister after meeting with BMP officials on Wednesday
# BMP has not yet decided on relocation of bus stand opposite Malleswaram police station

Bangalore: Health Minister and Bangalore District in-charge R. Ashok on Tuesday ordered work on the two-way underpass in Malleswaram to be stopped until further notice. Construction work began on Sunday despite protests by residents.

Mr. Ashok, after inspecting the construction site, told presspersons that based on the preliminary data he had received, the plan for the underpass seemed unscientific. He said that a meeting with the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) officials would be held on Wednesday based on which a report would be sent to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

"We will keep in mind the concerns of the public and only then decide on a solution to the problem," he said.

During the inspection, residents told Mr. Ashok that the BMP had not yet decided where it would relocate the bus stand (opposite Malleswaram police station). Mr. Yediyurappa had directed the BMP not to start work without his permission and yet the civic body had begun construction, residents told the Minister.

Chief Engineer Ranganath said that a plan to relocate the bus stand would be evolved within the next 10 months (proposed duration of the project) and that a letter had been written to Mr. Yediyurappa four months ago.

Mr. Ranganath said that with the construction of the underpass, traffic would flow freely from Sampige Road and Margosa Road on the service road. "Right now, traffic at Malleswaram Circle is held up for 30 minutes in one hour. With the grade separator, traffic signals will be removed and no congestion would occur," he said.

Residents' contentions

Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative, which had been opposing the grade separator since its conception, had listed a number of faults. One of the shortcomings of the project, it claims, was that the 5th Cross Road in Malleswaram was only 80-foot wide while the Indian Road Congress (IRC) specifies that grade separators are useful only in 120 foot wide roads.

Speaking to The Hindu , S. Prakash, a resident of the area, said where the underpass ends, vehicles would have to take a sharp right turn to go on to the Link Road.

Venkatesh, another resident, said that the IRC specified a minimum of 2.5 metres of footpath for 800 pedestrians an hour. "But the BMP itself says that 3,000 pedestrians per hour would be expected and it has planned for only 1.5 metres of footpath," he said.

However, Mr. Ranganath said that the grade separator had been planned according to IRC standards. Residents claim that 5.5 metres of service road would not be enough but this is the standard width as required by IRC, he said. "How many people will use the service road anyway?" he asked.