No roads close to Metro lines will be taken up for widening until the project is complete and the train starts running, assured Ravindra H, chairman, standing committee on major roads.
No roads close to Metro lines will be taken up for widening until the project is complete and the train starts running, assured Ravindra H, chairman, standing committee on major roads.
The BBMP will also consider imposing a cess on car owners through the RTO; the money will be spent on road development, he said. He was reacting to citizens’ demands that the number of vehicles being registered be curtailed and a tax be imposed on private vehicle owners.
The people also demanded that cars with single occupants be discouraged by penalising their owners or drivers.
Nagaraj KT, superintendent engineer, major works and Nararaj, chairman, standing committee on Town Planning and development also answered some tough questions at the public meeting organised by citizens protesting the widening of Jaymahal Road and Bellary Road to accommodate six lanes.
A 4.2-km wall has already been built, 16 acres of the Palace Grounds, valued at `600 crore, has already been taken in exchange for TDR from Maharaja Wodeyar.
Trees that stand between the old and new wall would have to go, but those on the footpath would be retained, he said. The officers justified what citizens described “as mindless massacre of 856 trees to bring in more cars” as being inevitable for the sake of connectivity to the airport.
The BBMP insisted that one had to sacrifice green cover for development and requested the citizens to get out of the way and let them do their work.
Ten thousand trees will be planted to compensate for the loss, saplings will also be planted along the service road that will be laid along the compound wall of Palace Grounds, they said. Citizens, however, demanded that a sanctuary be created for saplings and BBMP prove that they are indeed capable of nurturing them.
Members of Hasiru Usiru, Wildlife Forever Foundation, Citizen Support Group from Dr Rajkumar Road also questioned the civic authority on why TDR scheme was abandoned on Jayamahal Road, an address belonging to the city’s elite but residents of Tannery Road were being pressured to accept the same as compensation in exchange for land. “Why widen the road when the Metro is under way? Have you tried out alternative solutions to congestion,” they asked.
Synchronised signals, better public transport, smarter roads are solutions students proposed, arguing that multiplying vehicular population render widening useless. Ravindra promised to share information on BBMP’s projects, also invited suggestions for alternatives and promised to continue the discussion at a later date.
Citizens’ groups plan to continue their movement against wider roads which would not only strip the green cover but also imperil lives of pedestrian and hawkers.
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