A bumpy ride to Nityanandanagar

A bumpy ride to Nityanandanagar
Monday September 24 2007 10:41 IST

SHARATH N MURTHY

THE ride to Nityanandanagar, from Kumbalgudu on Mysore Road, is literally a roller coaster one. The road, which was laid 16 years ago, has not seen a trace of asphalt since two years.

The road is frequently used by many since it houses three prominent educational institutions: Vivekananda Institute of Technology (VIT), Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM) and B.G.S International School.

VIT, an engineering college with more than 1,000 students, has been on this road for over a decade. The students of this college have been victims of various minor accidents. College Principal Doddanna Hemanth says that repeated requests to the panchayat office and to Health Minister R Ashok, who is from the constituency, have gone unheard.

‘‘The road needs to be broadened since there have been many minor accidents involving the college buses, though there were no major injuries and casualties,’’ he remarks.

The condition of the roads worsens during the rainy season and the Principal of BGS International School Sheila moots for a public-private partnership.‘‘There should be some kind of a private and government partnership to take care of the roads. These partnerships have tremendous scope for improving the infrastructure of the road and the City,’’ she says.

Apparently, only two of their fleet of 10 buses use the Kumbalgudu Road and the others use the Kanakapura Road. She adds that many City students reside in the school to avoid commuting on these roads.

Administration head of the school Shiviah says that the bad roads have taken a toll on the school buses. The maintenance costs of the buses have increased due to the condition of the road.

The road leading to the school has a median but the bad condition of the road has lead to people using just one side of the road, increasing the risk of accidents. Though frequent commuters prefer walking than taking a bus on this road, the lack of street lights makes it a scary walk after sunset. There have been incidents of eve teasing and students of IIJNM becoming victims of eve teasing. In fact, a complaint has also been registered with the Talaghattapura police station.

Since the Main District Road between Mysore Road and Kanakapura Road is being relaid right now, residents are hoping that the attention could be turned to this road as well.

The only hope is that Public Welfare Department’s Junior Engineer Suresh has said that the tender for re-laying the road has been approved and the repairing of the road would start within two months.