Residents and RWAs will be roped in to discuss feasibility but work on newly-added zones on the outskirts will continue.
Bangalore can breathe easy. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has finally decided to spare residential areas from the controversial road-widening plan. Mayor SK Nataraj on Friday ordered a halt on the plan in residential areas and said the civic agency will now hold discussions with residents before clearing it.
“It will be done only after discussions with residents and the residents’ welfare associations,” he said, citing panic and anxiety among the citizens as the reason for scrapping the plan. But road-widening in newly-added zones of the city on the outskirts will continue as per schedule, he added.
DNA ran a 45-day campaign against the proposal that had entire Bangalore upset. The resentment forced the state government to do a rethink on its plan.
“The words road-widening and TDR created fear among the public. So the BBMP council and the Palike chief had a long discussion and decided to stop the work,” mayor said. Nataraj admitted that the current plan was unscientific and that a resurvey needed to be conducted.
“We will begin the resurvey in September. We are also exploring options of converting some roads into one-ways to ease the traffic congestion,” he said.
The mayor has also ordered removal of red markings on properties. “In fact, the citizens themselves can remove the markings on their buildings,” he said.
However, the BBMP will continue to convince people that the plan will help bail the city out of its traffic mess. “If more than 90% residents oppose road-widening then we will not take up the work. However, we will try convincing the residents even if they reject the proposal,” he said.
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