It has been over a year since key connecting roads in East Bengaluru were dug up and traffic diversions enforced for white-topping work. With no end in sight for the much delayed work, residents of Indiranagar, Ulsoor and surrounding areas are fed up with traffic from K.R. Puram and even outstation traffic being diverted into their residential bylanes, choking them.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has undertaken white-topping work on 100 Feet Road and Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) Road, both busy stretches connecting several areas in East Bengaluru with the central parts. Earlier, Old Madras Road was closed for construction of the Rapid Road in the 350-metre-long stretch which had led to traffic bottlenecks in Indiranagar and now the white-topping continues to trouble the motorists.
“Since white-topping work is going on the main roads, vehicles are moving to the interior residential roads, which is also leading to traffic snarls in bylanes and disturbing the peace of residential pockets. The work has been in progress for nearly one year and it is causing chaos in Indiranagar,” complained Shankar Prasad, a resident of the area.
“For the last several months, white-topping has been causing severe traffic snarls on Old Madras Road and Indiranagar. Many buses from K.R. Puram are entering the roads of Indiranagar and Ulsoor which have become difficult to ride,” said Rajiv P.K., a motorist from HAL who takes this stretch to reach M.G. Road everyday.
Residents also blamed the BBMP for not completing the white-topping projects in-time. “The civic body is not paying enough attention to our plight. White-topping was not at all necessary on this stretch as the road was in good condition earlier. This project is only leading to trouble for the general public,” Mr. Rajiv added.
Meanwhile, traffic police have also been appealing to the civic body to complete work at the earliest. “The delay in the works is causing huge traffic snarls in the area and has a snowball effect in surrounding areas too. We are also requesting them to complete the project soon so that the traffic issue can be solved,” a senior official from the area said.
However, BBMP officials said that work was nearing completion and will be completed soon. “Most of the work is done and in a few more days the road will be opened to motorists,” a BBMP official from East Division said.
