New Cantonment road dug up by BWSSB; residents blame lack of coordination

Nine months after a 24 metre-wide, three-lane road was opened near the Cantonment Railway Station, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) have dug up a part of the road to lay pipelines, irking commuters and residents alike. The road was widened as part of the station’s redevelopment initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2022. According to the workmen there, pipelines have been laid for the past week. It will be completed in the next few days, they added. However, the dug up lane is adjacent to the footpath, meaning pedestrians are forced to walk on the road which already poses danger.

“Without a zebra crossing, and a Foot Over Bridge (FOB) to cross the road, not being able to use the footpath means we lose the little amount of safety we had,” said a student from a private institution. The BWSSB argued that the road was dug up to shift the existing pipeline running on Thimmaiah road, keeping in mind future works. “The railways were supposed to help shift the same while laying the new road,” an official told News Trail.

Rajkumar Dugar from ‘Citizens 4 Citizens’ and a resident of Vasanth Nagar pointed to the lack of coordination between the authorities. The pipelines should’ve been shifted before the road was tarred. This exposes the poor coordination between the civic authorities,” he added. Pedestrian’s safety, Dugar says, has always taken a backseat here. "Those with luggage, never found it easy to cross the road towards the station or towards Vasanth Nagar," he added.

Dugar also emphasised on how coordination is critical on this stretch, keeping in mind the planned commercial complexes in the space owned by the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA). “With the station increasingly getting busier, a 75 metre road connecting the new road to Thimmiah road, will benefit all,” he concluded. The digging up has irked commuters and citizens alike. This had also posed the question of civic agency co-ordination.