Pedestrians cry for subway

Pedestrians cry for subway

As underpass work gets delayed, crossing KR Market circle becomes a tough task

Senthalir S. Bangalore
Crossing the Krishna Rajendra Market Circle may be the shortest way for pedestrians to reach the bus stand.
But there are four traffic policemen standing at the circle not allowing people to cross the road. They have a reason.
"If people start crossing this circle, it will lead to chaos. To avoid this, pedestrians should come via Aparna theatre towards the bus stand. There is a subway too they can take," said Praveen Kumar G, a traffic police constable. A board displayed at the circle says pedestrians should not cross the road between 9am and 9pm.
Poornima M, who regularly walks up to the bus stand from Victoria Hospital side, said the existing subway was not clean enough to walk through.
"I don't like to use it. I hope the new pedestrian subway will be completed shortly. But it seems it won't happen so fast as the construction is taking a lot of time."
The pedestrian subway under construction near the City Market bus stand is aimed to serve pedestrians coming from the City Market, Apsara Theatre, Victoria Hospital and Chandra Bhavan.
Arjun Shetty, a motorist, said commuters found it difficult to drive their vehicles at Chandra Bhavan Junction, where the subway construction is under way.
"While buses keep moving in and out of the bus stand, pedestrians keep crossing the road towards Chandra Bhavan from the bus stand. It is a tough time for motorists at this junction," he said.
The 120-metre new subway will have a width of nine metres and it will link with the existing subway. The construction of the subway at KR Market Circle began in June 2007. It was to be completed in 12 months. However, the deadline crossed and not even half the work has been completed.
The Rs590-lakh project is a joint venture of Maruti Construction and Malaysia Green Construction. Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) blamed the two companies for the delay in subway work.