PremiumKarnataka's Bengaluru civic authorities have received a barrage of criticism after several students in the city's Panathur area had to reportedly skip school and go back home after getting stuck in traffic for a long time this week.
Local residents, along with school students, even held a candlelight protest against the incident.
The issue was first brought to light by a Twitter handle called "BELAGARE Citizens Voice #WIDEN P-S-Cross#".
The Twitter handle wrote, "The apathy is causing serious hardships to #Balagere citizens, a never ending suffering. Is this Civic/ Civil. this clarification reqd from our beloved leaders of this #PanathurBalagere stretch. Today's saga where Traffic, commuters, Kids, and school buses were found in shambles! (sic)".
Soon, the issue caught the attention of Biocon chief Kiran Mazumadar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education.
The Panathur RUB junction has been infamous for its traffic congestion in the past with residents requesting for the widening of the road multiple times. A local resident also shared the video of the protest, which was then taken up by Mohandas Pai, who said, “State of our roads, @narendramodi Sir pl help!"
Tagging Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and several others, Pai wrote, "Is there hope at all in Bengaluru? What are the police doing to clear traffic? They have the tech!"
Shaw also tweeted, "Do the authorities even care? Citizens will have to keep shaming them into action." “When we say authorities it’s the ground-level officials - you can’t blame politicians. The contractors need to be held accountable by authorities but they don’t," she added.
Several other Bengaluru residents revealed the dark reality of Balagere roads. One user wrote, "Balagere road is a nightmare and that it takes two hours to travel five kilometres".