BENGALURU: Slamming the tunnel road concept, elevated corridors and others, actor and activist Prakash Belawadi termed the mobility plan proposed by the government and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to decongest the city traffic as plain “brainless”.
At a talk hosted on these projects by a group of civic activists here on Monday, Belawadi appealed to the public to unite under ‘Bengaluru Town Hall’, a forum involving nearly 50 civic groups, to make the public representatives know about the need for a scientific approach for infrastructure in Bengaluru and also a Master Plan for the city’s administration. He also pitched for filing a PIL in the Supreme Court in this regard.
Belawadi stressed the creation of social media groups and quality discussion on subjects through the platform. “Under the Town Hall, urban planners, experts from different fields, both private and government organisations, will be there,” he said.
In a similar vein, Sandeep Anirudhan, convener, Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, said, “I agree with Belawadi that instead of fighting for rectification of any individual project, let us have a proper forum so that the entire administration can be streamlined. The Metropolitan Planning Committee and revised Master Plan for the city should be implemented and our fight should be to get this done as a priority,” he said.
Ashish Verma, convener, Sustainable Transportation Lab, Indian Institute of Science, who raised a red flag over the project earlier, said projects like tunnel roads and double-deckers will impact the Mass Rapid Transport System. Passengers on Namma Metro routes will be discouraged and this may lead to the use of personal vehicles, he said.