Stop Sankey flyover: Kids to ‘Uncle Bommai’

BENGALURU: Using letters to send a strong message to the state government, around 2,000 students on Friday posted handwritten postcards to the Chief Minister’s Office at Vidhana Soudha, urging him to drop the proposed Sankey flyover.

In the postcards, the students from schools around Malleswaram, Sankey Tank, Vyalikaval, and Sadashivanagar have addressed the CM as Bommai Uncle. Most of the postcards penned in Kannada and English read: “Dear Bommai Uncle, Please save our environment. We want to learn in a healthy and safe atmosphere. We do not want Sankey Flyover (sic).”

Each postcard also had the signature of the student, to ensure that they are genuine. The letter writing was organised by schools and resident welfare associations in the vicinity. KR Iyer, a member of Citizens for Sankey, also a part of the campaign said that around 2,000 students have written and on Monday more students will be writing. The children are of varied age groups.

The students said they understand the impact of the flyover -- it will worsen air quality and increase the presence of PM10 and PM2.5. The trees will be axed and traffic will increase. Noise and air pollution will also go up.

Earlier, residents and activists had undertaken a signature campaign against the same project, where over 17,000 signatures were collected in two weeks. They stated that there is no need for the flyover, but traffic at Cauvery Junction needs to be regulated.

In October 2022, TNIE had written an article- Three cave-ins in four weeks on Sankey Tank Road -- set off the alarm. BBMP officials had admitted that Sankey Road had become a matter of concern with many seepage points. They also announced that an agency would be hired to assess the damages and conduct a detailed study.

Later, however, BBMP officials continued with the once-shelved Sankey flyover project. It was first mooted in 2011 but was set aside with rising opposition and litigation. Now the BBMP has prepared a DPR for a project of Rs 60 crore, where Rs 30 crore is allocated for widening the existing Sankey Road and constructing a road below it, by occupying a portion of the school and tank bund area. The remaining Rs 30 crore will be used for constructing a flyover from Sankey junction towards Cauvery junction.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said the DPR has been prepared and if people have any better suggestions for improvement or easing traffic situation, they should give it.

Interestingly, another senior BBMP official admitted that the Cauvery underpass and BDA Junction underpass were bottlenecks and needed to be demolished for better traffic regulation. The official added that Sankey flyover is a government project and has to be executed.