Work on the Hennur flyover, which leads towards Geddalahalli in Bengaluru began in 2009, with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) promising to throw it open to public by July 2010. It has been over seven years since then and the 920 m flyover, intended to ease commuter woes, appears to be abandoned.
Nadia Zackria, a resident of Hennur, said, “This flyover is important as it connects commuters to the international airport. In the past seven years, the work has been left incomplete and has created numerous traffic and waterlogging issues.”
Neither assurances of Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, in whose constituency the flyover falls, that it will be completed by October 2018, or claims of the BDA that land acquisition issues caused the delay, have cut the ice with citizens, who have decided to stage a protest in Hennur on October 29.
Subramanian K., who started an online petition about the issue to be submitted to the government, said, “I have been a resident of Hennur since 2008. We are now facing problems that were never present in our area earlier. With the recent rains, we are also deal with waterlogging issues and traffic jams that take hours to clear up. It does not make sense that it takes seven years to build 920 m long flyover. Travelling on the road leading to Guddalahalli, that used to take about five minutes, now takes almost 45 minutes.”
It is not just the residents of the area who are pained by the slow pace of work. A traffic constable working at Hennur Circle also lamented about the slow work on the flyover in the past seven years. “Different organisational bodies such as BWSSB, BESCOM and others dig up roads to change pipelines and make way for the flyover, but they do not pave the roads back properly,” said the constable.
To make matters worse, the roads adjacent to the flyover are narrow and unpaved.
“Vehicles are forced to move in single file, thereby increasing time and traffic issues. During the rains, the unpaved roads are waterlogged and the BBMP levels them with gravel, which gets washed away. This has led to a rise in accidents too,” the constable added.
Issues faced
However, BDA officials have said that the work on the flyover will be completed soon.
“The initial delay in completing the project occurred when residents requested us that the flyover be extended to prevent traffic issues near the Hennur bus depot and another major arterial road,” said a BDA official, who added that the project then had to be re-designed and tenders had to go out again.
“The second issue was with land acquisition. Out of 31 properties required for road extension, three were under dispute for the longest period. Until then, we worked on the other aspects of the flyover, including moving the sewage lines, electric lines and so on. Now, we have managed to get the property cleared for construction to resume and will finish work soon,” the official added.