Demand for more transparency on Tagore Circle project

Demand for more transparency on Tagore Circle project

Staff Reporter
B.K. Chandrashekhar charges authorities with ignoring public concerns
— PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

CONTROVERSIAL: The underpass work in progress at Tagore Circle which critics say is unwarranted.
BANGALORE: The former Legislative Council Chairman B.K. Chandrashekhar on Wednesday said the “absolute secrecy” in which the Tagore Circle underpass at Basavanagudi is being undertaken gives rise to many doubts. “Something mysterious is happening and people should know who the mysterious persons behind this project are,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after inspecting the proposed underpass worksite along with traffic expert and ABIDe member M.N. Sreehari, the former Mayor P.R. Ramesh and the former bureaucrat Y.K. Muddukrishna. Neither the public nor the people’s representatives were consulted before the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commenced the project without any notice, Prof. Chandrashekhar said.

‘Impropriety’
He said: “I charge BBMP with serious impropriety and dereliction of duty in not completing the ongoing J.P. Nagar and Kadirenahalli grade separator works. BBMP could have thought of Tagore Circle underpass after completing the ongoing projects.”

Prof. Chandrashekhar said the Government too was indifferent and had stopped responding to public concerns, referring to various issues of public importance, including the Namma Metro.

“BBMP claims that the Tagore Circle witnesses 12,000 passenger car units (PCU) per hour. I challenge this estimate and ask BBMP to come out with the agency which had conducted the survey.”

If the situation was that compelling, a magic box underpass connecting B.P. Wadia Road and Bugle Rock Road (towards Gandhi Bazar) would have been sufficient.

Prof. Chandrashekhar said: “Though the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) has to look after infrastructure projects, neither ABIDe nor its Vice-Chairman and Bangalore South Lok Sabha Member H.N. Ananth Kumar has made any statement on Tagore Circle underpass.”

Deluge of projects
Prof. Sreehari said although none of the roads or intersections in Basavanagudi see more than 6,000 PCU per hour, major infrastructure projects are thrust upon this serene locality.

While the PCU at Tagore Circle was 4,500, it was 5,600 at Ramakrishna Math Circle where a grade separator had earlier been planned and the PCU was just 2,750 on the National College Flyover, another already completed controversial project.

“Most of the roads within the city are not suitable for construction of flyovers or grade separators: these should be built on ring roads. Multi-layer flyovers in cities, namely Bangkok and Los Angeles, have failed to solve traffic woes and in fact Los Angeles is thinking of pulling down all the flyovers,” Prof. Sreehari said.

Mr. Ramesh said the underpass should not have been taken up just because it had been sanctioned under JNNURM.

Although the project was sanctioned in 2006, why did the BBMP keep quiet all these days only to wake up all of a sudden, he asked.

Before undertaking the project, the present traffic situation in the area, particularly with the advent of Namma Metro, should have been studied.