10 years on, BBMP still hasn’t crossed this bridge

Y. Maheshwara Reddy | NT
Bengaluru, Nov. 3

Two weeks ago, a child walking across the bridge that stands over the storm water drain in Halasuru fell into the debris-filled water below. “The child was rescued but it was a providential escape,” says Hari Kumar V, a resident at Murphy Town’s G Colony. The bridge is only ten-feet wide in some parts and has no safety wall on the left side, save for a couple of rusty iron rods that stand between pedestrians, traffic and the storm water drain. It is on this perilous path that people, autos and bikes navigate their way through heavy traffic, often skirting close to the edge.

The proposal to widen the bridge first arose ten years ago. “The widening work is still pending and the absence of a safety wall near Sri Venkateshwara Temple makes it dangerous for pedestrians,” says social activist B.R. Chandran. 

BMTC commuters from Halasuru and other areas, who are travelling towards areas like K.R. Puram, Tin Factory, Ramanamurthy Nagar and Hoskote have to cross the bridge to board their buses. “We staged a protest recently to highlight the plight of pedestrians and BMTC commuters. Traffic police advised us to withdraw our protest,” Chandran adds.  

Brahmananda Reddy, a social activist from Gupta Layout, is of the opinion that any further delay in the widening of the bridge will affect the Namma Metro pillar. “We have approached elected representatives asking them to direct BBMP engineers to widen the bridge. The Namma Metro Pillar is only three feet away from the storm water drain,” Reddy says.

The responsibility of ensuring that civic problems don’t cause any untoward incidents often falls squarely on the traffic police. Expressing concern over the bridge’s condition, a traffic police inspector told News Trail that he has appealed to the BBMP authorities to complete the work quickly. “I am worried about the safety of the pedestrians. The bridge needs to be widened for the benefit of both walkers and motorists,” he said.

The BBMP storm water drains department has supposedly assigned a contractor to begin the work. As always, civic authorities revert to their usual refrain – blaming each other. “I am waiting for Bescom authorities to shift the electric cables,” the contractor said. “I will commence the work as soon as this is done.”

Meanwhile, Renuka, an assistant executive engineer with the BBMP storm water drains department, has said the bridge widening work has been taken up as part of a package programme in the area.
 “The BBMP has allocated Rs 5 crore for strengthening and repairing storm water drains in Halasuru,’’ Renuka said.