New subway plan raises eyebrows

New subway plan raises eyebrows

Civic officials say the proposed project aims at helping pedestrians

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore



After constructing a pedestrian underpass on Nrupatunga Road near Yavanika on Sunday, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike is planning to build one more just 400 metres away from it.
"There is a proposal to construct another pedestrian underpass near Marthas Hospital. The distance between the underpasses may be 300 to 400 metres,'' said KS Krishna Reddy, chief engineer, special projects (major roads), of Palike.
He said the reason for constructing another underpass was to help pedestrians.
"How can we ask people to walk for over a kilometre to use the pedestrian underpass for crossing the road? This apart, a feasibility report for Avenue Road and KG Road is also being prepared for constructing more pedestrian underpasses," he said.
The civic agency plans to complete the works in 20 hours causing minimum inconvenience to people. The subway on Nrupatunga Road was constructed within a day though underground work still remains.
"We aim to complete the (underground) work in 10 to 15 days," the engineer said.
As construction materials lie on the sides of the road, pedestrians are forced to hop, skip and jump to walk on the footpaths. Furthermore, there is a sense of fear among pedestrians.
"Since BBMP has completed the project in a hurry, we pray the incident of Cauvery junction underpass does not repeat, where a part of the road opened up.
"It is scary to think that while we are walking, one of the sections collapses. I will rather walk across the road than use the underpass,'' said Kavitha N, a pedestrian.
MN Sreehari, a traffic expert, said although vehicular movement on the 0.9km stretch was quite high, it did not justify the plan to construct two underpasses, metres away, for pedestrians.brace for more: After completing the underpass on Nrupatunga Road, BBMP plans another subway work on the same road