Around 300 residents, including school children, walked from Esteem Mall to Palace grounds on December 24 morning to impress upon the government to decongest north Bangalore.
Led by Karnataka Abhivruddi Mattu Anustana Samiti, residents proclaiming to be The People’s Voice, wanted long term solutions to decongest north Bangalore which includes reducing traffic jams and air pollution. They also wanted the government to sanction a metro rail line.
The samiti and resident associations in north Bangalore organised a walkathon and sapling plantation programme and stressed the need for the proposed steel flyover.
The residents and school children marched with banners proclaiming apolitical intentions
B.M.Devarajappa, the samiti president and A. Shivaram Shetty, its general secretary stressed that it was a peaceful walkathon aimed at decongesting north Bangalore and making the area cleaner.
K.Kumar who was among the walkers said it was faster walking from Esteem Mall to Palace grounds than driving through Hebbal flyover (from Esteem mall side) which has become a 24/7 bottleneck with traffic police unable to do anything apart from regulating the entry of buses and heavy vehicles through the mouth of the flyover at peak hours.
The residents here are countering the anti-steelflyover movement with a #steelflyoverbeku demand. The proposed steel flyover from Chalukya circle to Hebbal, now extended till Esteem Mall, is estimated to cost around Rs 2,100 crore. It is expected to reduce congestion towards the airport and help residents living in the area.
The samiti also made a demand for a metro rail line to the KIA airport from the city centre via Mehkri circle and Esteem Mall as the entire right side of the road towards airport from the city has already been marked for a rail line when the hi-speed rail line was initially planned.
“As the entire north Bangalore population is increasing, a namma metro rail will benefit residents of the area and also connect the airport,” says Bhavya Ramu, a Sahakar Nagar resident who also participated in the walkathon.
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