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TOI Unlock Bangalore Event - Learnings
Written By narayan82 - 28 March, 2008
BIAL Bangalore Unlock Bangalore public transport
As you all might have read in the papers, TOI had an Unlock Bangalore event at The Leela on March 28th 2008. Many say the event was merely a publicity stunt (as no other paper was allowed inside), but even so the secondary results were fruitful. The stake holders at the meeting - Chief Secretaries, MDs and other prominent people in the city - were asked to clearly define what they are doing regarding the connectivity issue at BIAL. For us citizens this was an opportunity to finally get to know what is in store. I thought it would be interesting to share first hand information received: 1. Mr.V P Baligar - Chief Secretary (IAS) for Infrastructure in Bangalore Mr Baligar was almost ripped apart from all angles by the panellists and the citizens present. It started with one atrocious comment - when he stated Vidhan Soudha to BIAL was only a 45 min drive. What was atrocious was that this convinced him nothing really need be done about the issue (as it took only 45 mins.) But on probing him, it was found out that he utilized a Police Escort! Virtually making it traffic jam free. As Mr.Ramesh Ramanathan Also pointed out the airport is not operational yet. Baligar went on to list the roads in which work "is in progress" and those that have been completed. he was quite unconvincing - and was asked to "stop it and sit down" by the moderator! 2. Mr Praveen Sood - Additional Commissioner of Traffic Police Mr.Sood raised a very interesting point - He feels enforcing fines on traffic violators are unfair as they lack education. The RTO issues licenses without actually teaching them to drive. In this case - can we fine those we do not educate in the first place? A fair comment - except it wasn’t the end of this. After the talk during the public interaction Mr Sood was gheroad by angry citizens, asking him "How he cannot fine violators?" The counter argument was that people break the law not because they aren’t aware of it - but knowing they can get away with it. To this he had no answer and even refused to promise to enforce the law. He kept pointing the finger back at the citizen. It left a very bitter taste in the citizen’s mouth. He walked away from the discussion in a huff. ----- To be continued in the next part....
COMMENTS
Rithesh - 28 March, 2008 - 04:26
Every now and then different organizations organize these brain storming sessions. No doubt - wonderful and non conventional ideas are put forward. But whats the result. Nothing happens on the ground. At the end of the day, the participants and the organizers get some good publicity.
The solutions to most of Bangalore problems are simple - trust me if the Traffic Police decides to move all bus stops atleast 100m away from traffic junctions it will do wonders. Its not that the Traffic Police is not aware of this, but they dont have the will to change things. "Will to do things" - the very basic thing that is missing. The change in thinking is what is needed for Bangalore to move forward.
This is nothing new. Its all as expected. What can be expected of them when a goal like "improve traffic" is given? They'll "improve" traffic as per their convenience. Its time we run all govt. departments like private. Have clear, measurable goals. Traffic police should be given clear, objective and measurable goals like: "Between point A and point B, average speed should be X km/hr in peak hours" and such. And that has to be made public and tracked in a transparent way. I don't see it getting better otherwise.
Ofcourse, there are practical issues and morale issues (of lowly paid constables). Nevertheless, one has to be challenged, only then all the real "road blocks" would come out and along with it the solutions from within!
cajalal - 28 March, 2008 - 06:40
50% of traffic jams & congestion on roads can be eliminated if traffic authorities can ensure that there is no parking on main roads. Now half of the road (left most lane) width is unusable as vehicles are parked on main roads.
Since the left most lanes are unusable, because of parked vehicles, all slow moving vehicles like tractors, autorikshas, trailers tries to avoid left most lane and moves slowly on the right most lane of the road.
Strict adherence of "No Parking" on main roads and shifting bus stops away from junctions will go a long way on reducing traffic congestions.
namma_nadu - 9 April, 2008 - 10:56
Having lived here all my life - the thing that angers me most is the abdication of the rulers (the so called government servants) towards bangalore except for their own money making schemes. Are the cops doing their duty? hell no. Are the BBMP officials doing their job? fat chance. Are the BESCOM / BWSSB guys doing their jobs? no. Look at Bannerghata road - from Diary circle to Hosur Road. Here parking rules are thrown out of the book ( if there are any ) and trucks, buses, autos, cars, cows, flag poles are shamelessly parked/located on the road. Eucalyptus trees are allowed to grow on the stretch from Diary circle to Jaydeva which could be chopped and space made for either expanding the road or creating a pavement. Not done - leading to choking of traffic near Oracle/Accenture offices with auto's creating a stand there and the road narrows down in front of Sagar automobiles and later near the Sagar palatial house. Sagar hospital is allowed to have cars parked in front of their hospital ( and they use the basement for 'services'). Pavements are converted to extension of automotive retailers, hotels, tyre puncture shops and more. Most shops in Bangalore use at least 50% of the space outside their doors for their business - and nobody objects. What is the use of the government if they cant govern or bring a semblance of governance. Its all ok to say that we are in it too -- but unless the stick is welded nothing, nothing will come out of it. Today on MG Road, i saw people - 2w/auto/cars all flouting the signal -- as we simply dont care a hoot for the rules. We need a Sangliana or Kiran Bedi. Our current leadership has failed. If all they can come up with is apologies or gandhigiri - lets move on. I am afraid Mr. Pravin Sood has got it all wrong. We need the police to straighten up things - manage and crackdown and not start the blame game.
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