Very few affected by proposed one-way rule on M.G. Road

Very few affected by proposed one-way rule on M.G. Road

Afrah Shafiq

It will be implemented only in the last phase of the Metro project

# Few traders worry about possible effect on business
# Many willing to put up with likely inconvenience



IN FOCUS: A view of the Trinity Circle junction in Bangalore. — PHOTO: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: It is only the stretch of M.G. Road from Dickenson Road to Trinity Circle that will become one-way and not the stretch until the Brigade Road junction as reported in a section of the media. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East) M.A. Salim has said that even this arrangement will only be temporary and will be removed after the completion of the Metro Rail project.

Mr. Salim says that the only other alteration made to M.G. Road will be the removal of parking facilities between the Brigade Road junction and Trinity Circle. To reduce the anticipated burden on traffic, buses would be redirected in such a way that they will not pass through M.G. Road, he adds.

But the public apparently has no reason worry in the immediate future, as Mr. Salim promises that the new rule will be implemented only in the last phase of the Metro Rail Project.

Once the stretch from Trinity Circle till Dickenson Road does become one-way, how will it affect businesses on the road? A walk down the road gave one an idea of what people feel.

The first stop is the sandalwood-scented Cauvery Emporium run by the State Government. Prashanth, an employee, is blasé about the one-way proposal: "Our clientele mainly includes NRIs and foreigners, and no one-way rule is going to stop them from coming."

Proprietor of Karishma Silks Bhagwan has a similar response. "It is already virtually impossible to get parking on M.G. Road. So people have already got used to parking at a distance and walking down the road, which is what they will continue to do."

But proprietor of Saboo Collections Om Prakash is worried about the likely ill effect the rule will have on business.

"The tremendous increase in traffic due to the one-way rule will encourage people to avoid the road, and this will affect business," he says.