BANGALORE: While many of the footpaths in Bangalore have been narrowed to make road broader for a smooth vehicular movement, here is an instance where Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has gone to an extent where they have narrowed footpaths to make way to park four wheelers.
The main road next to Kittur Rani Chennamma stadium and Cosmopolitan Club is one of the busy road in Jayanagar. Vehicles including cars are parked on the road side, thus occupying nearly 30 per cent of the road.
Now, in order to accommodate cars to park and at the same time not causing problem to the road users, the Palike has narrowed the footpath by at least 8 ft. But the trees are a concern.
According to the sources from BBMP, the Palike will not cut those trees which were earlier located on the footpath and are now
on the road.
But when the commuters were asked about it, they had a different concern. Meenakshi, a college student who rides a two-wheeler tells that by road widening, vehicles that ply on roads did not get much benefit. “By narrowing footpaths, no doubt road has become broader. But with the trees in between, vehicles cannot pass that stretch. This is done very unscientifically,” she said to City Express.
Srinivasa Rao, senior professor in Botany said that it is an unfair act by the Palike. “Just to help a section of people, the road has been broadened. This will only benefit the cars that belong to the members of the Cosmopolitan Club. The Palike is spending lakhs of rupees which we pay as tax. We paid from our pocket and someone else is getting all the benefit,” he said.