BENGALURU: With repeated instances of traffic snarls at various malls across the city, especially during weekends, holidays and the festive season, officials and experts have opined that traffic police should be consulted before giving approvals required, to construct malls and convention centres, which sees high footfall often thereby throwing the traffic out of gear.
Vehicles had queued up for almost two kilometres on the service road on Ballari Road as thousands of vehicles were heading towards Mall of Asia near Hebbal, on Christmas eve that fell on a Sunday. Traffic snarls were also reported at malls located in Mahadevapura, Bannerghatta Road and other areas.
Residents living around Mall of Asia complain that they are often inconvenienced after the opening of the mall. Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), MN Anucheth said there is parking made available for around 6,000 four-wheelers and 4,000 two-wheelers. However, the footfall is about 60,000 during evening hours on holidays.
Experts say that to avoid traffic woes, civic authorities should consult traffic police before giving any required approvals to such commercial projects. With such long traffic jams on major roads, ambulances and fire tenders will find it difficult to reach any given spot swiftly, especially in case of an emergency. DGP of the Fire and emergency services department, Kamal Pant, noted that there should be a ‘Traffic Impact Study’ before the commencement of such projects.
“You (mall owners) can build a mall but why should there be a spillover of traffic on the main road?” questioned Pant, and observed that certain locations close to main roads should not be considered for malls as it will be humanly impossible to manage traffic.
Noting that establishments like malls and convention halls would only add more vehicles to the existing traffic, D Prasad, member of Indian Road Congress, stressed that while the capacity of the roads remain the same, the volume of traffic keeps increasing as newer malls are built. “Such projects are a contradiction to the road index.
Currently, there is no practice of consulting the traffic police before starting the construction of such establishments, yet when the traffic situation worsens on these roads, they are the ones blamed for poor traffic management. It is advisable to consult the traffic police before giving any approvals for the construction of these commercial establishments. Considering the opinion of the local traffic police could be the solution to the traffic problems,” he said.
Currently, multiplexes located in malls are obtaining No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the traffic police. “At present, NOCs are being obtained only for multiplexes from malls based on the number of seats. However, the same is not applicable to shops and establishments, though it has a higher footfall compared to multiplexes,” said Anucheth.
Traffic expert MN Shreehari, however, opined that it would be better if the traffic police just clear unauthorized parking on roads, and make service roads one-way.