BENGALURU: At least five accidents which occurred on the stretches of road between Sompura on Sarjapura Road and Attibele in the past one month has left residents worried. Last week, six deaths occurred from two accidents in two days in front of an apartment complex.
Residents, who stay around the stretches, have attributed the accidents on the state of the road. They have written to the Public Works Department to improve the road, but the officials told them that any work is unlikely due to lack of funds.
Six people lost their lives in two accidents on September 15 and 16, in front of the apartment Shriram Smrithi on Sarjapura-Attibele Road.Residents of the apartment too have been in accidents. Shubhodeep Ghosh suffered three fractures on his shoulder when he was hit by an auto-rickshaw while he was walking. Archana Raghuraman, another resident, fell from her two-wheeler when it entered a pothole.
Anil Srinivas, resident of the apartment, blamed heavy traffic, bad quality of roads and poor traffic management for the accidents. “There are no barricades anywhere. The road has only two lanes and is full of potholes,” he said. He said some potholes were recently filled up, but after rainfall these have gone back to their original state.
Swapna Kumar, member of citizen group Voice of Sarjapura, pointed out that most accidents occurred during the evenings or nights as there were no street lights on the stretches. When the group approached the PWD, officials agreed to fill up the potholes, install warning signs and paint speed breakers. Residents also highlighted the lack of footpaths, drainage systems and street lights.
Srinivas said residents of the apartment have been conducting weekly drives to clear the vegetation beside the road so that space was created for pedestrians. “We have submitted a petition to the Attibele Police Station to carry out traffic management on the stretches. If there is no action, we have planned a protest in front of our apartment next week,” he said.