BENGALURU: With BBMP refusing to revoke its proposed road-widening plan for Sankey Road, residents and activists have come up with a platform called ‘Citizen For Sankey’ to stall projects such as the Steel Bridge project in the past.
The residents fear that projects like road widening and flyovers may take years to complete on Sankey Road. The residents say that this project is coming at the cost of heritage buildings, trees, and also precious ecology. They fear that Vyalikaval may witness floods due to the project as the tank bund road had caved in earlier. In unison, residents, activists, and experts are pitching for a better public transport system instead.
The 1.1-km road-widening project from Bashyam Circle to Malleswaram 18th Cross and the 580-metre flyover over Sankay Road is said to have been prepared without any ‘feasibility study’ nor public consultation.According to activist Preeti Sunderajan, the area does not need such a project.
“The area has some heritage buildings, and some trees which are aged over 100 years. Besides wasting taxpayers’ money, the project will lead to traffic snarls at another location. Instead of investing in this project, the focus should be on providing better public transport.” she said.
Mobility expert Ashish Verma from IISc says the key point in any development project like roads and flyovers in the city is that there should be feasibility and the BBMP has not made this available with regard to the Sankey Road widening and flyover project.
“Like the Steel Bridge flyover project, even this one lacks clarity, and any flyover or underpass is not a solution since after some time, there will be traffic. Even the Shivananda Circle Steel Bridge is facing problems and has not resolved traffic issues, as vehicles pile up at bottlenecks near the railway bridge,” opined Verma.
Shaheen Shasa, co-founder of Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike, stated that the traffic issues of a city like Bengaluru can be addressed only with better public transport. “Instead of investing in flyovers, the government should invest in more BMTC buses and ensure last-mile connectivity,”she opined.