A booming granite business, high trading and heavy traffic on a stretch of Bannerghata Road has added to the woes of commuters and pedestrians.
The 3-4 km-stretch on Bannerghatta Road from 8th cross SR Nagar (Sampangiramnagara) to Lakasandra near Dairy Circle fortunately has a footpath which has been taken over by matadors, tempos and other vehicles with the drivers parking their huge trucks in front of the granite shops. Not only this, the granite showrooms have extended their buildings till the end of the footpath leaving no space whatsoever for the citizens.
The traffic chaos during peak hours is a time when vehicles speed away while pedestrians struggle on this stretch of footpath which has vanished under loads and loads of granite. Naresh, who has been living in SR Nagar since childhood said, “Cops, ward members have made promises but the place remains the same.”
Raju, a tempo owner says, “Time and again, we have raised this issue before the commissioners to give us some space nearby where we can park our vehicles. We also don’t want to add to the chaotic traffic problems in the city.
Lakshmipathy, who runs a small petty shop on the main road says, “The BBMP authorities really don’t bother about the safety of citizens. They have been discussing this issue with the Tempo Driver’s Association for so many years and it still remains unresolved. Forget loading, we see granite shops dumping broken slabs on the road and footpath.”
Mohammad Rizwan Navab, Area Corporator said, “Tempos are definitely causing a chaos but I am unable to take any action now. Even the Commissioners and Deputy Inspector of Traffic tried to solve the problem. The Tempo Association rejected our mediation and tried to have direct discussions with the Commissioner but nothing happened. Additional Commissioner, Saleem has visited the place as requested by the tempo drivers for providing them an alternative space. Personally, I can’t evict them. Meanwhile, a road widening project has been proposed from Bannerghatta road to Begur but this may not take off now.”