Unfriendly skywalks remain ‘sky-high’

Unfriendly skywalks remain ‘sky-high’
Deccan Herald

The skywalks are not being fully utilised because it is difficult to climb them, said many people.

The rising volume of vehicular traffic in Bangalore has again left the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) looking skywards for solutions.

The BBMP is planning to construct 30 new skywalks in the next three months, in addition to the existing eight in the City.

But the moot question is whether the existing skywalks are user-friendly or not. When this question was posed to some Bangaloreans, they all admitted that skywalks and subways to cross roads were a must. However, they also felt that the existing skywalks were not scientifically designed.

While some pointed out that skywalks had become mere advertisement spots, others felt that every skywalk should have an elevator so that elderly people, physically challenged and children could use it. The skywalks are not being fully utilised because it is difficult to climb them, many said.

BBMP has built eight skywalks at different locations including Richmond Circle, near Maharani College and Jayanagar 4th Block under the Public Private Partnership model. The BBMP had given away advertisement rights to private partners, for a period of five years as per the agreement.

Dr Veda, Programme Manager of Sanjeevini Trust, an NGO on Langford Road said, she hardly saw people taking the skywalk erected on Richmond Road.

“It is not at all people-friendly. I can never imagine taking my parents on these skywalks. How can you ignore elders, kids and the physically challenged while designing a skywalk?” she wondered.

“Forget the elders and the physically challenged, even the young girls of Maharani College hardly take the skywalk set up near their college,” said H Rajasimha, Chief Engineer (Infrastructure) of BBMP.

Similar is the case with the one in Jayanagar 4th Block.

At a function, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had said that the skywalk would be upgraded with elevators. But nothing has been done so far. Mr N Nagaraj, former corporator, said that unless elevators or escalators were added to skywalks, nobody would use them.

“I myself find it difficult to take the skywalks. I have seen retired people struggling to climb the stairs to cross the road. Being a corporator, I submitted a proposal for upgrading the skywalk many times. If the BBMP asks, the private party who built the skywalk would upgrade it,” he said.

However, BBMP said that it had no authority to ask the private partner to upgrade the already existing skywalks. Mr Rajasimha said skywalks were built according to the then agreement between the Corporation and the private partner.



Advanced skywalks

The BBMP has invited tenders to set up 30 skywalks on busy roads under the Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) model. Each skywalk, with elevators, would be built at a cost of Rs 1 crore. BBMP aims at completing the project in the next three months.