Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) workers dug the Sarjapur Outer Ring Road on Tuesday, which led to a traffic snarl between Marathalli and Eco Space. Commuters were stuck on the stretch for five hours. “The stretch is totally messed up. At least 4,000 vehicles are stuck and the people are in no mood to stop digging up the road,” said Rajesh S, who commutes regularly from Marathalli to Iblur.
The traffic police blamed BESCOM contractors for the chaos. BESCOM allegedly decided to dig stretches of the road without consulting the police or Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA), which led to a traffic snarl that had 4,000 vehicles stranded between Marathalli to Eco Space.
“We gave them permission to make minor repairs.They dug too much. When we learnt of what they had done, we asked them to stop the work.They should have sought our permission before digging the roads to such an extent,” said Subhash Chandra, PSI, Madivala.
“This was completely unexpected.Neither Police nor we were informed.We could have arranged worked out alternative routes if we had been informed. This is a textbook example of how authorities work without any coordination. It is one of worst traffic jams on the stretch in recent days.Their staff dug the road despite knowing that traffic is high in the evenings.” said Vishwanath S, secretary, ORRCA.
BESCOM officials, however, denied they had not sought permission. “We had sought permission to dig about four feet of the road, only to find that the underground cables were damaged beyond our estimation. We had no option but to cut a wider swathe of the road. When we realized that there was a traffic jam, we stopped work,” said a senior BESCOM official.
Techies who took the Sarjapur Outer Ring Road (ORR) were stuck on the stretch for five hours between 4 pm and 9 pm due to road digging by the BESCOM. The traffic police blamed BESCOM contractors for the chaos.
Source: Mid-day
