PROMISES UNKEPT

PROMISES UNKEPT
It is a six-month rapid action plan of the CM to bring about improvement in traffic situation in Bangalore. It covers a wide range of activities chosen for their immediate impact and to be implemented in a coordinated manner by the agencies concerned such as BMP, BMTC and Bangalore traffic police. As the deadline expired on Friday, Smitha Rao and Azmath do a reality check
The Times of India

Bangalore: On May 11, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy announced an ambitious traffic decongestion plan for Bangalore titled: Chief Minister’s Ten-Point Programme and set a six-month deadline for its implementation.
On November 10, the six-month deadline passed. But not a single promise has been fully implemented. Worse, many promises have remained on the colourful brochure released by the CM, attendant with the Suvarna Karnataka logo.
The biggest casualty: of the 160 Vehicle Actuated (VA) and Synchronised Traffic signal systems that were supposed to be set up across five crucial corridors, not one has materialised. For the record, the VA system has been announced by three police commissioners in the past! We have floated tenders to acquire the system, officials maintain.
Another boon promised: monitoring the city’s 27 lakh vehicular movement through 50 cameras fitted at main roads further linked to a Master Control Room a la New York, Bangkok — remains just that, a promise. For this also, tenders have been floated, say officials.
This rapid action plan that came with a time frame of six months and seal of the CM was aimed at reducing congestion at least by 30%. Ironically, the decongestion plan has helped increase the traffic density by 10%. Consider this: Bangalore had a little over 24 lakh vehicles in March. As of early November, the figure stands at over 27 lakh.
To respond to area-specific requirements, a plan called Local Area Traffic Management Plan was mooted. This was slated to address traffic woes in high-density areas like Rajajinagar, Jayanagar, Indiranagar, Koramangala, BTM Layout and RT Nagar. The Indiranagar plan was ready even before the announcement of this lofty programme. The progress so far — a study plan is ready for Koramangala, in other areas the study is on. This plan was particularly significant because it sought to address traffic management in a scientific manner for the safety of senior citizens and children.
Everybody’s bane — parking — has thus far seen a series of meetings. Twenty-five mini-parking lots on vacant land belonging to the government should have been ready by October 11. Not a single parking lot created so far. Authorities had also planned to ban right and U-turns on 30 bottleneck locations. And they have managed to implement it on 18 roads, so criss-crossing leading to traffic jams continue.
They’ve said this often before — dedicated bus lanes on Outer Ring Road (ORR) and dedicated auto lanes at 20 roads. Bus ways are yet to materialise on ORR, auto lanes have been implemented on 10 roads albeit with few takers.
With Bangalore having the biggest network of point-to-point transport, autos, it was announced that 50 pre-paid auto stands would be set up across the city. After the announcement, a meagre four stands have come up to address the hassled commuter. Prior to the CM’s announcement, the city already had eight auto stands.
If Kumaraswamy’s six-month promise is yet to take off, then his predecessor Dharam Singh’s famed project of creating the Inner Core Ring Road to decongest central areas does not even have a blueprint ready. Save a mention in BDA’s Masterplan.