Up against the administration

Up against the administration
By: Chetan R Date: 2010-06-17 Place: Bangalore




BBMP's Ring Road broadening draws flak from residents as they put up protest slogans outside their homes

The protest against the Ring Road widening is all set to get intense as residents have put up protest slogans in English and Kannada on 400 households across the 16-km stretch, from the 37,000 houses, which would be affected by the project.

The BBMP intends to widen the 100-feet road to 150-feet road as part of the road widening in two phases. The project is slated to kick-off on 91 roads.

"This is a symbolic protest against authorities, who are setting a bad example," said V Krishna, a Ring Road resident. "This is only the beginning and will get intense in the days ahead."


The boards that Ring Road residents have put up across the 16-km stretch.


War of words

While all these boards have the line 'Ring Road widening is illegal, we oppose,' in common, each household have put their own say in the second line of the slogan.

This include lines such as 'Planning requires common sense and vision,' 'Planned BDA layouts are demolished,' and 'Was there a vision when this layout was formed?'.

"The protests will kick-off in series," said Krishna. "We want the protest to go on for a while."

The residents, who term BBMP's compensation in the form of TDR (Transfer Development Rights) unscientific, are determined to intensify the protest in phases.

"What is the use of TDR, if our houses are gone," said KN Murthy, another resident. "Their planning is unscientific.

If officials are not sensitive enough, we will resort to more intense protests, until the widening project is given up," he added.

Mayor mum

However this has had affect too. The BBMP, which was resolute to start off the widening work, has put a temporary stop to the work. "We have postponed it for now," said SK Natraj, Mayor.