I have now spent almost 27 years of my life in Bangalore, the famed garden city of India.. now this very sobriquet will only elicit cynical laughter or a sigh from Bangaloreans...
I travel by the dreaded Hosur Road daily, since I work in Electronics City, I notice that to cover just 9 kms of stretch from Electronics City to Silk Board Jn it takes 25-30 minutes, which is a pathetic 20 kmph on an average... this distance should ideally be covered in 10-12 minutes..
Anyways to cover the distance to my house in distant Yelahanka it takes 1 hr 15 minutes.. !!.. the distance just 30 Kms.. again an average speed of just 24 Kmph...
With this kind of infrastructure it is ridiculous to find the so called administrators of bangalore messrs Deve Gowda, Dharam Singh, BJP fight over Metro/Mono rail...
If my memory serves right this Metro project was conceived some 15 years ago.. when I was in school... yet the debate goes on.. why? what has happened since then.. Why hasnt any decision been taken.. Ditto for International Airport.. this project too was initiated some 15 years ago.. it is only now that some action has been taken...
This list is endles.. (Now that I write this, I can recollect the Hudson Circle flyover was supposed to start long long time ago.. it is only now I can see some activity happen & I am sure no flyover will materialise in the near future)
I think time has now come for some decisive action from the residents of Bangalore.
What are the solutions... let me brainstorm in the next post.
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Hi Nikhil,
Nice blog space you have here. I am a US qualified registered medical technologist-microbiologist, with my own lab in Bangalore for the past 30 years and a born(again?) Bangalorean of 55 years.
I have made a suggestion to all law makers, officials to Ban honking in the first place to make an immediate improvement in the living conditions. We know the traffic is Bad, I donot know why the rest of the citizenry have to suffer for it. Knowing Our mentality(Indian), nothing short of serious penalties and constant policing will make us follow rules. So I have suggested heavy penalties. And Power to the citizens to complain of violations, with graphic evidence if possible. Onus on the authorities to penalize and report back to the complainant on the Action taken. Increasing the fine amount by 10 percent or so to reward the complainants. This would make the violators themselves pay for their reformation. Compliance will increase if violators are sure about having to pay a price- if someone is watching idea spreads. Supreme court already says Honking is banned after 10 pm till 6 AM. Honking pattern has a severe ripple effect on the entire populace. So only a tap on the horn should be tolerated. Leaning on the horn should be seriously penalized.
I am involved in an NGO training Heavy vehicle drivers(about 15000 of them in Bangalore alone) on cautious defensive driving, through day long seminars.
I have also started a movement of noting down the violators details and informing the traffic police through email for action. If every one does it I am sure we can transform the city's traffic miraculously. We have to get the authorities to give dedicated select citizens powers to issue atleast notices of violations. Would you like to be involved?
Thanks
M B Nataraj
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