To ensure the safety of people, especially patients who need to cross the road, NIMHANS and Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology have requested the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to construct a skywalk across Hosur Road.
NIMHANS Director P Satish Chandra told The Hindu there is an urgent need for a skywalk as most people who visit NIMHANS or Kidwai prefer to get off public transport in front of the administrative block and cross the road to enter the hospital rather than go all the way ahead and take a U-turn near the Diary Circle flyover.
“We lost two employees when they were crossing this road,” he said.
It was after these accidents that NIMHANS got an underground tunnel constructed. “But it is only for the use of our staff due to security reasons,” he said.
Suggestion given
Kidwai Director K B Linge Gowda said, “We had written to the BBMP during the tenure of former commissioner M Lakshminarayana requesting this facility. We had suggested it to be located between the bus-stops near NIMHANS and Kidwai,” he said. Dr Satish Chandra said the skywalk should be equipped with an elevator as patients may not be able to climb up and down the stairs to use the facility.
He said NIMHANS was ready to part with the land required for the skywalk on both sides of the road. “We have requested the Palike to give us a small advertising space on the skywalk where we can publicise health messages,” he added.
BBMP Chief Engineer (Road Infrastructure) S Somashekar said a tender for the facility had been floated.