Pedestrians become tense as they tread this stretch

Pedestrians become tense as they tread this stretch

Senthalir S. Bangalore



Residents of Craig Layout on MG Road are facing a bad time. The work on Trinity Metro station has cut them off. Now they cannot take out their vehicles. Even walking has become risky.
"The roads and pavements are dug up. It looks like a Mohenjo-daro site. We're helpless," says Deepika Govind, a designer and resident of Craig Layout.
As station work is going on in full pace, the road from Webbs Circle to Trinity Circle has been closed for vehicles. Workers wearing yellow helmets are busy moving iron rods piled up on pavements while cranes haul up large moulds used for concreting the pillars. As these heavy vehicles keep moving construction material, the road near Nalli Silks gets coated with a thick layer of fine dust. And the moment you step on it, a cloud of dust rises spoiling your dress and polluting the air.
"There is no place here for pedestrians. One has to tread one's way between pillars, barricades and piles of construction material," says Deepika angrily.
During the construction of Delhi Metro, at least one side of the road was kept open for pedestrians. Here it's not so, she adds.
Pedestrians coming from Trinity Junction have to scale a small barricade made of tin sheet a few yards before Nalli Silks. But if they take a wrong step, they will trip and fall into a pit dug up by workers on the other of the barricade.
The only good thing to emerge from the Metro work is for motorists. The road under the Metro bridge has turned into an impromptu parking space. Motorists don't have to pay parking fee till the work is completed. But it has deprived many the facility of driving up to their offices and parking their vehicles in the official parking lots. They are also finding it difficult to reach their office without getting their clothes soiled.
"I work in Canara-HSBC life insurance firm located next to Nalli Silks. We now park our vehicles under the metro bridge and walk through the dusty stretch to reach my office. Sometimes, when I return from work, I find that my vehicle has been towed away by traffic police," says a youth who does not want to be named.
Rajesh Krishna, another commuter, wants the parking space to be increased so that vehicles are not towed away.
"There are many banks and other offices located on this stretch. It's unsafe to walk late in the evening along this stretch amid construction work. The excavated mud strewn on pavements is adding to the pollution," says Raja, an employee working in the area.
A few companies have assigned their security guards to manage the vehicles of their employees on the road. "We allow parking space only if the motorists show their identity cards," says Kamal Sharma, a security guard of WCS.
A senior official with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited says the government has approved the closure of the road till May-end. "The station work is going on. Work on launching girders, and erection of staging for other works will be carried out simultaneously," says he.
There will be some inconvenience to public. "But we are taking all measures to speed up the work. It will be completed by May-end," he adds