| Published on 18-01-2008 In National |
| Viewed 1823 times |
| Changing the character of Bangalore |
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Written by
A. Jayaram |
Bangalore is paying a very heavy price for its development, in fact over expansion. Development has meant destroying the distinct character and beauty of the City.
The countdown has just begun for defiling some of the prestigious and charming localities to improve the approach road to the Devanahalli International Airport. The existing Sankey Road running through the "power centre" of Karnataka and the Bellary Road are being widened to serve as the airport road. Three underpasses are being built on the former.
Even as the airport project is racing towards beating the deadline of March 31, 2008, the City's notoriously pro-establishment newspapers seem to be competing for headlines and glorifying the projects taken up by the various agencies to improve the road. A story a day on the airport project seems to be the standing order in newsrooms and callow journalists are going overboard without going into the repercussions of the various plans. The one parallel one recalls when the newspapers in Bangalore went hoarse in praise was the reportage on the Kudremukh Iron Ore mining project in the mid-1970s. They had blindly supported the project just because the Government of Iran under the Shah had committed itself to a huge loan towards the project. The loan never came and the mining project has itself been closed down on the orders of the Supreme Court for destroying the ecology of the area in which it has come up.
Though there is a general feeling of resignation towards what is being done in the name of providing the infrastructure for the proposed airport, there is also the view that the alternatives were never explored. The silence of the various pressure groups has not gone unnoticed. The NGOs who protest over cutting of a few avenue trees or culling of stray dogs are maintaining a Trappist silence although the improvements to the approach road to the airport will mean the cutting down of 800 avenue trees. It is being stated that the views of traffic policemen have scored over those of engineers, town planners, academics and those who love and care for Bangalore. Even the former Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, who has been critical of Governor Rameshwar Thakur's administration, has so far nothing to say about what is happening to Bangalore.
The Sankey Road and the Bellary Road are being converted into an expressway (though not called one, it amounts to that) to provide a hassle-free ride to those departing and arriving in the City by air. The character of the long stretch from Cubbon Road to Mekhri Circle is being destroyed by building underpasses at the traffic junctions of Windsor Manor, Bangalore Development Authority offices and Cauvery cinema. In a caveat against criticism, those who have taken the questionable decision are diverting public attention by stating that the underpasses would be prefabricated ones and delays would be minimised. Resort to prefabrication might be praiseworthy from the technology angle but the plan itself is flawed. Old timers have been witness to the metamorphosis of this part of the City from what was in fact a path through the woods (old Palace Orchards and even High grounds of yore) to a thoroughfare carrying vehicular and pedestrian traffic far beyond its capacity. The conversion of the Sankey Road into the Airport Road would only aggravate its woes.
To build an expressway within a crowded city is revolting even to the most obtuse mind.
To enable air passengers to race to the Devanahalli at breakneck speed, the safety and interests of other road users are being sacrificed and ignored. Those talking of a non-stop ride from the General Post Office to Hebbal have to bear in mind that the road passes through residential areas and it is going be to be used by those who will far outnumber the air passengers. How can the pedestrians cross the Sankey Road or the Bellary Road if there is non-stop movement of vehicles? Even today it is near impossible to cross these roads for the pedestrian. Construction of skywalks is not the answer as the existing ones in the City are hardly being used. The growing number of senior citizens or the disabled cannot be expected to make use of t hem. One cannot wish away the normal or the non-airport traffic from the roads, which are now being widened. No doubt the widening of the Sankey Road from the Balabrooie (Government guest house) or the High grounds Police Station junction was long overdue and members of the Bangalore Golf Club could not escape acquisition of a stretch of the verdant links. The widened road to the Airport could have been built from the Hebbal flyover or beyond.
The other far-reaching decision taken by the Governor's administration- to build the proposed station for the dedicated railway to the new airport on the Police Parade Ground on the Mahatma Gandhi Road is to disfigure the place forever. The M.G Road, which has been wrongly chosen for the passage of the metro rail, is being made to take on traffic far beyond its capacity. The one wrong is being compounded by a folly. South Parade which old Bangaloreans still insist on calling the M.G Road, is going to be converted into another "City Market or even Kalasipalya" by the decision. Native Bangaloreans understand the description though not others. One might recall that the destruction of the Subash nagar ground to build the two bus stations has robbed Bangalore of its only large public ground to hold exhibitions, circus shows, carnivals and the like. It is stated that one of the agencies has suggested that the railway terminal be built beyond Hebbal and it is worthy of consideration.
Those who decided on locating the new airport at Devanahalli should have given simultaneous thought of the approach road from the City. The Bidadi area on the Mysore Road, which was also considered as a possible location would have been a better proposition.
The authorities should ban the construction of commercial and traffic generating buildings along the widened road to the airport. Otherwise it would be futile to acquire land for road widening. We already have the experience of the ring roads around the City and even the four-lane Bangalore-Mysore State highway on which restaurants, dhabas and kalyan mantaps are fast replacing greenery. We have had the experience of the existing Airport Road, which was converted into a double road in 1986 when Ramakrishna Hegde was the chief minister. The construction of commercial buildings along the Airport Road has made the journey to the HAL Airport an ordeal.
Far too important decisions are being taken in the State which is without an elected government and the City is also without an elected civic body. The Governor' s administration is taking decisions, which would have a far-reaching impact on the lives of Bangaloreans. |
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