Bannerghatta road continues to see fatal accidents as the metro work on that stretch of road has been continuing for over four years now.
Bannerghatta road, one of Bangalore’s busiest roads has seen more accidents and fatalities in recent times due to bad roads. According to police data, in 2022, from January to August, 18 accidents were registered of which five fatalities were reported. The road is not prone to accidents just among the motorists but is causing problems to pedestrians due to damaged footpaths or no footpaths at all.
Mukesh, who resides in Bannerghatta locality said, “Due to this metro construction the road has been narrowed down. There is no proper signal, first thing. So we face lot of difficulty in crossing the road.”
Pedestrians complain of having zero space to walk, while motorists fear skidding of their two-wheelers because of the damaged roads. “We might fall off the vehicle also and I’ve fallen once,” said a motorist, Rajkishore.
Many pedestrians and motorists complain that the authorities have not offered an alternative to commute, particularly for pedestrians. Traffic congestion due to narrowed roads is now another problem. Mr. Venkatesh, Traffic Inspector, Hulimavu said, “The traffic police are trying to improve the situation. They are moving the barricades and making space on the road.”
Mr. Ravi Prakash, Senior Manager- PR, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), said the engineers are taking care of every movement on the road. “Our engineers are there, they are monitoring each and every movement. Yes, the roads are damaged in certain places but our people had laid down good roads. Because of recent rains, which everyone is aware of, there are some potholes which also they are taking care.”
According to a report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2019, Bangalore saw the third-highest number of road accidents among million-plus cities in the country. It witnessed 4,684 accidents across the city reporting 746 fatalities. Bannerghatta road alone contributed a total of 35 registered cases in the same year.
Dr. UB Shanth Kumar, who has been in town planning for several years now, said that the city lacks proper administration. “There is no proper planning by our government in any offices, be it on governance or city planning. For roads to be widened the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) comes up with master plan and the plan includes complete road widening, however this has not happened. They should pre-plan for any project. If there’s any disturbance due to metro construction, they should take precautions.”
This Pink Line of the Namma Metro, which is still under construction, connects Gottigere to Nagwara, covering a distance of 21.5 km. The metro work in the area had started more than four years ago. As of now, according to BMRCL, 50 percent of the work on the Bannerghatta road, from Gottigere to Hulimavu is completed and the rest is in progress.
