Millers Road: Half stretch open to traffic

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Motorists have to wait for a few more days before they can enjoy driving down the refurbished Millers Road stretch from Chandrika hotel towards Cantonment Railway Station. The road was closed for vehicular traffic a few weeks ago to facilitate Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board laying water pipes.

Additional Chief Secretary and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Administrator Rakesh Singh visited Millers Road on Friday and Saturday to oversee the progress of pipe laying work. Rakesh Singh has instructed the BWSSB engineers to complete the pipe laying work by February 25. He said laying of the water pipes on the road between Chandrika and Cantonment junction near Dr BR Ambedkar Bhavan will be accomplished by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Bangalore Smart City Limited engineers completed asphalting a stretch on the side of Millers Road, ie between Chandrika and Chalukya Circle on Friday night. “We have to complete some more work on this stretch. It will take us two to three days. As of now, the stretch is open to traffic.’’ said BSCL Assistant Executive Engineer Chandrasekhar.

He said motorists have to wait for some more days to commute on the stretch between Chandrika and Cantonment. “Water pipe laying work is in progress. The BWSSB contractor has dug up the road for laying not one pipe line but two of 450 mm and 700 mm dimension, which is likely to be completed in a few days,’’ he said.

The assistant executive engineer also said, “The entire stretch of Millers Road will be ready before March 30. I am confident of completing all works on Millers Road by then.’’

However, motorists and residents, especially those residing adjacent to Millers Road want BSCL engineers to ensure completion of all pending works on the road as early as possible as they have been suffering a lot for the last few months.

“There is a lot of dust on this stretch. It has become tough for us even to walk on the footpaths due to the ongoing works. We have been demanding that the BSCL engineers complete all works that were pending for quite a long time,’’ said Rajesh N, a resident of Vasanth Nagar. With closure of the stretch between Chandrika and Cantonment for vehicular traffic, motorists have been taking a right turn from Cunningham Road to enter Millers Tank Bund Road and reaching Cantonment Junction via Thimmaiah Road.

“It has become difficult for motorists to reach their destination during peak hours as vehicles pile up on the narrow road between Cunningham Road and Cantonment Junction,” he said.