Here red mark claims green cover

Here red mark claims green cover


Sharan Poovanna First Published : 31 Jul 2010 06:25:04 AM ISTLast Updated : 31 Jul 2010 11:44:38 AM IST
BANGALORE: In most of the places, residential and commercial properties are the main victims of the city corporation’s road widening projects, but on Old Airport Road, it is the green cover that will be the prime casualty.
Old Airport Road is one of the longest roads to be widened.
The stretch from Trinity Circle on M G Road to HAL’s Helicopter division will be made 30-metre wide.
The residents, however, do not see any rationale behind widening the road. Karthick Raman, a BPO executive, said the road was wide enough to handle the traffic and did not need to be widened further. He conceded that it is a main road that sees traffic jams during peak hours, but added that the jams got cleared quickly as the road was well connected and wide enough.
“There are many trees that are on Defence land on this road and all of them are under threat just because the BBMP thinks that widening the road is the only solution to all the problems of the city,” said Shantanu, an IT professional who uses the road frequently.
He added that the road had handled traffic comfortably even when there was a rush of the vehicles to the old airport.
“Road widening is not required as the problem lies elsewhere,” said Vinay Srinivasa of Hasiru Usiru. He said the BBMP was pursuing the project even though public and environmentalists were against it.