BENGALURU: Residents in and around Raghavanapalya in JP Nagar 9th Phase have petitioned the BMTC to divert buses by one kilometre through their area to allow easy access to many senior citizens residing in numerous apartments here. BMTC is planning to take a decision after a survey shortly.
The petition, signed by 138 residents, including many seniors, was submitted to the head office on March 2, said Abdul Aleem, founder of Changemakers of Kanakapura Road, an umbrella of welfare associations.
It pointed out that there are a number of residential apartments, like Nandi Gardens, IMG Elite, Aryahamsa, Platinum Lifestyle and GR Heights.
“Each contains a few hundred apartments and a large number of residents. Many of them are senior citizens who depend on public transport. The existing bus routes stop at Anjanapura Main Road and the Kengeri-Gottigere Road, which are far and not within walking distance for senior citizens. They are forced to depend on uncertain and expensive autorickshaws,” the petition said.
It appealed that buses heading from Banashankari to Jambusavari Dinne be diverted at the Vinayaka Cinema stop so that it goes down the 60 feet road past HM World City and Nandi Gardens, turn to the 80 ft road passing via many apartments and later rejoined Gottigere Road at the Royal Layout stop.
V Bharath, a resident of Nandi Gardens, who is keenly pushing for it, said, “We have told BMTC that both the bus route numbers 215H and 378 are passing through this route. It is up to them to decide which one can be diverted for us.”
It is important that there is a good frequency of buses, said another local resident. Divisional Traffic Officer, South, BMTC, Mahesh told TNIE, “BMTC will carry out a survey after Monday by meeting the residents of the area. After that, we will take a decision on diverting the routes as requested. I have conveyed it to the citizens.”