Property owners will fight Palike’s unscientific traffic management solutions.
What is the one weapon that people have to stop the irrational road-widening under the TDR (transfer of development rights) scheme of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)?
“Relentless protests!” they shouted in unison at a meeting held on Mount Joy Road on Sunday. Invoking memories of the struggle for freedom, residents and traders of the area gathered to organise the big fight against the Palike.
“We will not allow a single road in Bangalore to be widened,” said Dr Manjunath BR, convenor of the Save Bangalore Committee, which is spearheading the movement. “No party is talking about road widening.
Citizens, beware of politicians who might try to weaken the protest with false promises.
Get organised and come together for protests,” he gave the war cry. “Put up posters in front of your houses; write letters to representatives. Be strong in your resolve,” Dr Manjunath said, adding that it was necessary for Bangaloreans to unite and fight as a single entity.
Threatened property owners from Malleswaram and Dr Rajkumar Road also joined the meeting. “If shops and small commercial establishments on road sides are demolished, Bangalore will become an underdeveloped city.
So, let old Bangaloreans remain and let development be shifted to tier-two cities like Belgaum and Hubli. It’s the IT people who need more space. So let them form new localities,” said Dr BS Jyothi, who runs a clinic on Mount Joy Road.
Dr Manjunath pointed there was a proposal to construct a multi-storey building at the present Race Course.
“Can you imagine the number of cars the building will attract towards the city centre? We will never be able to decongest the city even if Chickpet, Akkipet and Balepet were demolished,” he said.
He called malls a disease and said that heavy tolls needed to be levied on visitors to malls as 80% of them were only window shoppers.
With the movement spreading its tentacles far and wide, the gathering decided to protest against every illegal demolition.
“We need to have a control room to register complaints and organise a gathering at very short notice,” said ASM Kumar, a resident of Dr Rajkumar Road and member of Citizen Support Group that was fighting the BBMP’s project in court.
“We have to be vigilant 24 hours. They can come down on us anytime, as is already happening in a few areas,” Kumar said.
As the meeting ended, the citizens vowed to strengthen their opposition against BBMP’s “unscientific solutions” for traffic management and called every Bangalorean to join the movement.
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