Agencies to complete work on 11 roads by July 15
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Smart City undertaking: Eight extra roads to be prepared by the month-end, 4 extra seemingly to be finished by August 30
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When restrictions have been eased as a part of Unlock 3.0, Preetam Kumar, a advisor, was requested to bodily report to work. However, the commute from his residence at Vijayanagar to his workplace on Residency Road is a nightmare as a number of roads proceed to stay dug up as a part of the Bengaluru Smart City Project work. The latest spate of rain has solely made the state of affairs worse.
“Getting in and out of the central business district (CBD) area, where most of the roadworks are under way, is a pain. During peak hours, it almost takes 45 minutes to get in and out of the CBD. I wish the government had finished with these projects during the lockdown and before the monsoon,” he mentioned.
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Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who additionally holds the cost of Bengaluru Development, had requested officers to complete the work.
In January this yr, at a evaluate assembly after an inspection, he had set a deadline of May 31 to complete all of the work on 32 roads within the CBD space. At a evaluate assembly on June 10, he pulled up officers for lacking the deadline and for delays within the implementation of the Smart City Project works. Expressing concern over “imminent unlocking and commencement of the monsoon”, he set a brand new deadline of June 30. However, work on solely 9 of the 32 roads have been accomplished to date.
Civic companies are assured of finishing the work on one other 11 roads by July 15. “We need to club utility lines of power, water, and telecom at the street corners which are the only works pending on most of these 11 roads. This will be completed by the next weekend,” mentioned B.S. Prahalad, Chief Engineer, Bengaluru Smart City Ltd.
However, companies estimate that ongoing work on one other eight roads, together with Kamaraj Road, Miller’s Road, and Dickenson Road, may be accomplished solely by July 30, and that on the remaining 5 roads, together with St. John’s Church Road, and Avenue Road, solely by August 30.
Traffic jams
B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner, Traffic, Bengaluru, mentioned visitors snarls within the CBD had change into widespread ever because the metropolis was unlocked. “On our part, we are managing traffic and allowing roadworks to happen even during the day, in the hope that they get completed quickly,” he mentioned.
Since the monsoon has additionally begun in earnest, the rain has solely add to the woes on the streets.
Mr. Prahalad mentioned although the lockdown interval may have been used to complete pending work, that chance was misplaced owing to labour scarcity points in the course of the interval. “Many labourers had to be quarantined and that hit the morale of other workers as well. It created a fear psychosis and we found it extremely difficult to find labourers during the lockdown. Now, work is in full swing and will be completed at the earliest,” he mentioned.
But with companies promising to end work for a number of months now, commuters stay sceptical.
