Traffic jam tests Mysore Road users’ patience

Traffic jam tests Mysore Road users’ patience

Staff Reporter
Truck breakdown on Sirsi Circle flyover, residents’ protest result in hours-long pileup
Police turn blind eye to ban on movement of trucks on the flyover

Pramod Layout residents allege NICE has cut off the link road

BANGALORE: Monday blues hit Mysore Road users real hard as they had to face traffic pileup for hours on end right from the Rajarajeshwari Arch to K.R. Market, Majestic and Town Hall on Monday.

A sand-laden truck headed towards the city broke down on the middle of the Sirsi Circle flyover early on Monday morning. As the day broke out and the traffic volume increased, vehicles began to pile up and the jam was not cleared till noon. Senior traffic police officers were mute spectators to the incident as the police had a tough time in towing away the vehicle.

Traffic on the busy Mysore Road has been a casualty as the traffic police do not prevent operation of trucks even during peak hours. Though there is a clear ban on movement of trucks on the flyover, traffic police turn a blind eye thus allowing even trailer trucks that transport steel beams and rods and containers. The breakdown of the sand-laden truck had a cascading effect and all the arterial roads, including Magadi Road and N.R. Road, and soon a gridlock ensued.

If this was not enough, residents of Pramod Layout and Hosakerehalli laid siege on Mysore Road at the Mysore Road-Outer Ring Road Junction near Nayandahalli by noon.

The residents were protesting the construction of link roads by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises.

Charge against NICE
Pramod Layout residents alleged that NICE had cut off the link road to their layout besides attempting to grab their lands.

Residents of Hosakerehalli too had the same grievance. S.K. Somashekhar, an advocate and resident of Pramod Layout, told The Hindu that NICE had violated various court orders, including that of status quo and that of sticking to the original framework agreement.

The blockade continued well beyond 2 p.m., and ended after Rajarajeshwari Nagar MLA M. Sreenivas and Deputy Commissioner (Bangalore Urban) G.N. Nayak intervened. Both of them promised to hold a spot inspection with the heads of departments concerned to ascertain the ground reality, said S. Nagaraj, secretary of Pramod Layout Residents’ Welfare Association.

Ripple effect
This blockade too had a ripple effect on the traffic, which had just begun to return to normal on Mysore Road, Outer Ring Road and Chord Road. Vehicles piled up all the way till Bangalore University Gate (from Mysore side) on Mysore Road, PES Institute of Technology on ORR, Sirsi Circle Flyover on Mysore Road (from City) and Vijayanagar on Chord Road.

While those driving and riding personal vehicles had no option but to swelter it out, waiting for the blockade to clear, those travelling by public transport got off in disgust, preferring to walk.