'Widen roads but spare a thought for trees'

'Widen roads but spare a thought for trees'
The interactive session on road widening jointly organised by Environment Support Group, Civic and Alternative Law Forum provided space for discussion on various issues related to traffic congestion and conserving green...


Both government officers and representatives of non-government organisations on Thursday agreed on one point - ‘Road widening is not the only solution for reducing vehicular traffic’. While NGO representatives criticised the government agencies for felling trees to widen roads, government officers said they make all efforts to protect trees and cut only if it is inevitable.

The interactive session on road widening jointly organised by Environment Support Group, Civic and Alternative Law Forum provided space for discussion on various issues related to traffic congestion and conserving green.

Ms Katyayini Chamaraj of CIVIC, said trees form the soul of a city. If trees are felled to widen roads, people will suffer forever. Moreover, the government’s policies are focused only on four-wheelers. “Cars are not citizens of the city. Pedestrians form a major share of the population. But they find no space in the government’s policies,” she alleged.

BBMP Chief Engineer (Roads) K S Krishna Reddy felt road widening is not the only solution for the problems.

Considering the number of vehicles in the City, the infrastructure provided is very less. Road widening is one of the measures followed to tackle the problem, he added.

The Palike is looking at options such as pre-cast underpasses at intersections. There are 38,000 intersections in the City. Traffic situation in 800 intersections is critical. The Palike will take up construction of underpasses using pre-cast box structure technology in all busy intersections.

Mr Beerendranath, Joint Director, Town Planning, said the people should use use public transport for commuting.

Mr Eshwar Prasad, ACP (Traffic), said the traffic police have been inventing new methods to ensure smooth flow of traffic. “Initially, we introduced bus lanes on an experimental basis on specific roads. But it didn’t work out.

Similarly, we introduced autorickshaw lanes, which also failed to yield expected results. However, efforts to solve the problems are on. Road widening will definitely help achieve our task,” he said.

Development should not be restricted to physical growth. Over all quality of life should be improved. Road widening is not solution for traffic congestion. The state government should take public into confidence before taking up works which consume lot of green space.

P S S Thomas,former adviser,
Planning Commission of India

There are about 30 lakh vehicles in the City. However, the road capacity we have is only for 7 lakh vehicles.

K S Krishna Reddy,
Chief Engineer (Roads), BBMP

I am in a critical situation. If I allow the felling of trees NGOs criticise me. If I don’t allow, the higher authorities will kick me. Let me tell you I am also concerned about trees.

Shekhar,
DCF, BBMP

While the population in the City is growing at a rate of 3.5 pc every year, vehicular population is growing at a pace of 14 pc every year. Out of 30 lakh vehicles in the city only 0.05 are public transport vehicles. Surprising fact is that 0.05 per cent of vehicles are carrying 56 per cent of the total population. If we reduce number of personal vehicles traffic problem can be tackled.

Beerendranath,
Joint Director, Town Planning

When I joined police service in 1977 total number of vehicles in the city was only 1.5 lakh and population was around 35 lakh. Whereas the situation today is alarming. Traffic police are trying out many measures to ease out traffic congestion.

Eshwar Prasad,
ACP, Traffic (Central division)