Bengaluru’s journey towards becoming a ‘smart city’ is resulting in inconvenience to citizens. Fifteen roads across the city, including Raj Bhavan Road, Brigade Road, and Infantry Road, will be converted to smart roads under TenderSURE specifications. These roads have now been dug up and the side-effects of the work have not been easy for citizens.
Regular commuters said apart from the dust, traffic congestion has increased multi-fold. “These are busy roads and with this project, the road has become narrow, increasing congestion. Also, it gets difficult to wait in the traffic jam owing to the dust,” said Kavya K.V., who travels through the CBD every day.
The dust and debris from the work have serious implications. A security guard at one of the buildings near Brigade Road, Karam Chand, said, “I stand by the roadside for more than eight hours every day. Within one week after the work began, I developed a cough. Now, I am forced to wear a mask to work.”
The small businesses around the areas have also had a tough time keeping up with this work. “As the pavement outside my shop has been dug up, my customers find it difficult to walk to the shop. Many of them now go to other shops,” said Asnam, who runs a tea shop near Brigade Road.
Pedestrians are facing difficulties as footpaths have disappeared owing to the ongoing work.
Hephsiba R. Korlapati, Managing Director of Bengaluru Smart City Pvt. Ltd., said that they have taken a number of precautionary measures. “We have installed barricades on the site and we remove debris daily. We have instructed workers to use water to prevent the dust from blowing over. We have also intimated the police to take necessary actions to regulate traffic,” she said.
White-topping woes
On the other hand, white-topping work has also claimed footpaths. For example, white-topping on Indiranagar 80 feet road has reduced the size of the footpath considerably.
It has also damaged trees, residents complain. The white-topping process began with digging around trees for underground repairs.
Razi Abbas of I Change Indiranagar said, “There seems to be no work done to revive the trees that are damaged. In some places where white-topping work is completed, there is no ground space for the trees. Hopefully, the BBMP will be cautious about the trees in their future projects.”