750 metres of frustration in Frazer Town

750 metres of frustration in Frazer Town

Senthalir S. Bangalore



Residents of Frazer Town, Cooke Town and Cox Town are a frustrated lot. They have been waiting endlessly for the inauguration for the new 750-meter-long flyover at Wheeler Road, the construction of which was completed over two months back.
Though they were assured by the civic authorities that the flyover would be inaugurated on February 5, official spokesmen of various agencies concerned told DNA that they did not know when it would be declared open.
Rubbing salt on the residents' wounds is the fact that for over a month now, sodium vapour lamps lining up the flyover remain lit for over six hours every night. While power goes waste here, the residents are forced to put up with unending power cuts every day.
"The lamps are being switched on for over a month now. Our hard-earned money is being wasted this way. There is a lot of inconvenience to residents here. We are hoping that the flyover would ease the traffic to a certain extent. But there is no sign as to when it would be inaugurated," said KP Abraham, president, Residents' Welfare Association, Bangalore East.
Abraham said the traffic problem was the bane of the residents here. It takes more than an hour to reach Shivajinagar. "Civic agencies have not yet completed work on service roads. The service roads are so small and it has to be seen whether vehicles could really move fast there," he said.
At least 52 sodium vapour lamps illuminate the flyover every night. "A sodium vapour lamp consumes at least one-and-a-half units of power if kept on for over six hours. Each lamp consumes 260 watts of power which is equivalent to burning four 60-watt bulbs for an hour," said a Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) official.
However, there is hope among the residents that their problems would end once the flyover is opened. "We have suffered all these years. Waiting for another 15 days is no big deal," said NS Ravi, president, Cox Town Residents' Welfare Association.
Ravi said that after protests by the residents, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had started work on service roads. "The work is going on. We hope that it will be completed soon, so the roads will be open for public use. Commuters take at least 45 minutes to cross the half-kilometer stretch," he said.
A BBMP official, however, said, "We started work on the service roads at a cost of Rs1.80 crore. Once that work is completed, I hope people can use the flyover. We do not know when the flyover will be inaugurated.