SWD work triggers massive jams in the heart of City

SWD work triggers massive jams in the heart of City
DH News Service, Bangalore:
A huge pit dug up near the Brigade Road-Residency Road junction for an urgent repair of an underground storm water drain (SWD) triggered massive traffic pile-ups and virtual gridlocks on many roads in the heart of the City.


The overnight operation took motorists completely offguard on Saturday morning, as neither the BBMP nor the City traffic police could explain why the public were not fore-warned.

The BBMP decided to repair the underground drain in a haste, because “the road was about to cave in,” as a Palike official put it.

“The SWD was in a dilapidated condition and we were planning to repair it for over five months. Yesterday (Friday) the situation was worse and so we had to carry out repairing of the SWD urgently,” said a senior BBMP officer, who wished not to be quoted.

The official said the SWD was choked due to which water entered into many houses in and around the Residency Road on Friday. In the wee hours of Saturday, when the repairing of SWD began, water gushed out from the
drain and spread everywhere on the road. Once the water drained out, the residents were relieved.

Shopkeepers on Residency Road explained that the road had been dug up after their complaint. But due to the work, there had been no power since morning. One of the shopkeepers said, “This drain problem has been there since three months. Now that they have started work on it, the road won’t get flooded during rains.”

Meanwhile, Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) said, the work could take at least 15 days to complete. Interestingly, he cited unexpected breakage of BWSSB lines for the traffic snarls.

“Late on Friday, the pipes could have given way. On our part, traffic will be diverted and managed on adjacent
roads until the civic authorities carry on work. It took us unawares. It is upto to BWSSB to expedite works and complete them soon. It may take 15 days” he said.

BWSSB, however, said it had nothing to do with the problem.

Traffic snarl

The BBMP indicated that the work could take up to a week, the traffic police officials said the diversions would be in effect for at least the next 15 days.

Regular users of Residency Road were shocked to see more than half the width of the road dug up and traffic blocked from Brigade junction till MG Road. Trucks, cranes and police barricades greeted them. Traffic at the spot was diverted towards Garuda Mall and beyond.

By Saturday afternoon, the traffic pile-up had extended all the way to Hudson Circle, MG Road, Cubbon Road, Infantry Road, Kasturba Road, St. Mark’s Road, KH Road, and other key arterial roads leading to the Central Business District. The traffic diversions effected by the traffic police took motorists totally by surprise and they were virtually roaming in circles.

Motorists were fuming at the slow moving traffic. One of them, Rakesh, said: “I was stuck on the Residency Road flyover for one and a half hours!The traffic was moving at a snail’s pace.” Rued another motorcyclist, Santhosh Kumar: “So many people are suffering, it could have been better planned.”

Harried policemen could be seen keeping the motorists at bay, directing them not to jump signals in haste. Even at 4.30 p.m., the policemen at the Brigade Road-Residency Road junction were in a tight spot. Said one of them: “We are trying our best to clear the jams. The traffic has been diverted in various junctions so the jams should clear very soon.”

Another policeman explained a mini plan: “The traffic on Residency road will be allowed to move non-stop for half an hour and this should help clear the congestion.”

Pedestrians in these busy areas also faced problems due to the heavy flow of traffic, many trapped unable to cross the road.