Police station causes traffic woes

Police station causes traffic woes
By S Lalitha, DH News Service, Bangalore:
Residents of Suddugunte Palya in C V Raman Nagar fume everytime they step out of their houses. The reason: a sharp increase in the number of vehicles on their streets, after the Bayappanahalli police station was moved to a spot near the telephone exchange.

The shift of location was planned for a temporary period of six months, to facilitate Metro Rail Work. But the manpower and vehicular strength in the station makes each day in this residential area a misery for the police personnel and the residents.

A police official (name withheld) attached to this Law and Order station said, “We have not been allotted any parking space. Apart from a 70-strong staff, most of whom have vehicles, cramped within two floors, the station is equipped with five two-wheelers, two four-wheelers and one Hoysala. There is no option but to park them in and around the station.”

The official also said that since top officers keep dropping in, their vehicles too are parked on the streets. “The people are hugely inconvenienced, but right now, there is no solution in sight,” he added.

Ramkumar, a resident, has permitted the police to park the seized vehicles on his vacant plot, free of cost.
Residents of 6th cross - which has many apartments - are probably worst hit. The station’s two-wheelers are parked on side of the road, while the other side has vehicles belonging to those who visit the station. This road, which is 20 feet wide also has a Raja Ganapathy Temple.

Afraid of speaking out against the police, most residents who spoke to this reporter requested that their identities not be disclosed.

“The vehicles are parked so haphazardly that car drivers have to stop at the beginning of the road and honk endlessly,” said one resident. Many times, it is the watchmen of the apartments who have to run and shift the vehicles, said another.

His neighbour said, “I had gone to the station twice and urged them to do something about it but there has been no improvement.”

This residential area had already been struggling to cope up with traffic problems since Metro work commenced on the Byappanahalli Road. “Vehicles from Whitefields, Koramanagala and Sajjapur which had to reach the Bagmane Tech Park have been passing through S G Palaya to avoid the Suranjandas Road from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.” All of them get blocked in the narrow road between the Telephone Exchange and the Defence building, that leads to the LRDE road.

“Now, parked vehicles block all our roads, thanks to the station,” residents added.

The station had a plan to shift to a spacious location at NGEF area but the land dispute problem there was still pending in the court, a top official said.