BENGALURU: The manned railway level crossing gate at Kodigehalli was dismantled by the Bangalore Railway Division over three years ago to make life easy for public by removing the traffic bottlenecks here. However, the non-completion of its proposed replacement, a road under the bridge, has made daily commute a nightmare for residents of Kodigehalli and surrounding areas.
Both BBMP and the Railways indulged in a mutual blame game when asked about the reasons for the delay. The Rs 15-crore RUB is meant to connect Kodigehalli area with Thindlu. The BBMP has spent nearly Rs 40 crore just to acquire land for the project.
‘The New Indian Express’ visited the spot on Sunday to have a reality check. Localites were spilling with rage over the massive inconvenience this project has caused in their daily lives. Vehicle users need to ride thrice the distance travelled earlier to reach the other side.
Homemaker Anupama Nagesh, a resident of Rama Mandir Road here, is distraught over the numerous times she needs to escort her 10-year-old son for his tuitions on the other side of the gate crossing the railway tracks. “I need to walk half-a-km to leave him and return home. Again, I go back the same distance to pick him up. When the LC gate was there, we knew trains were approaching. Now, it is up to us to be careful,” she says. Roopa Murali seconds it and points out that her husband used to drop her son for tuition earlier. “Instead of the 2 km ride earlier, he needs to travel 6 km now from my house at Kodigehalli bus stop to Sahkar Nagar, Railway Underpass, GKVK Road and then reach Thindlu.”
A Ramprakash, who has shot off letters to former Railway Ministers Suresh Prabhu and Sadananda Gowda pleading for their help to complete the bridge is lost for words to explain his misery. “I am into a lot of small businesses. Everything has been crippled in the last three years as public cannot cross over from one side to another. No one is helping us.” With schools being positioned on either side of the railway tracks, the lives of students have been put to major inconvenience and unwarranted risks, many point out.
BBMP says it has negotiated with the owner who demanded higher compensation earlier and the land is ready to be handed over now. “But why has the Railways not completed the ramp on one side of the bridge where there is no problem at all. No one there has taken any interest in this project,” said a senior official.
When contacted, a senior railway official claimed 90 per cent of the project was completed.
“The bridge is the main part and we have completed it. Only the ramp on one side needs to be completed,” he said. However, the spot visit revealed the ramps on both sides were incomplete and road widening too had to be taken up.