Awaiting their turn

BANGALORE: The Palike’s decision to widen roads in the city has ended up enraging many Bangaloreans. Be it due to the merciless of felling of many a trees or disappearing pedestrians.On Wednesday, as a continuation of the ‘Come, Cross the Road’ a few Bangaloreans got together to participate in the event to open the Palike’s eyes to the troubles faced by pedestrians. The event took place in three locations in the city — Bellary Road (in front of Esteem Mall), Intermediate Ring Road (in front of Embassy Golf Links) and Tin Factory (KR Puram).“It took us seven minutes to cross the road in front of the EGL junction. Four of us stood there waiting for the motorist to let us pass, but in vain. Another thing that we noticed was that the speed breaker was wrongly located. Instead of having the speed breaker before a zebra crossing, it was situated after it. There by defeating the purpose,” said Anitha, who works for an NGO.She also mentioned that after speaking to many people who lived or worked in the area, she found that these people too faced similar problems.“A young mother told us that she hires an auto, and then takes the first U-Turn to get to the other side of the road,” Anitha informed.‘Come, Cross the Road’ has over the last three weeks been to ten locations to gauge the time taken to cross the road, the condition of the pedestrian footpaths and the inaccessibility of the sky-walks and the sub-ways.Another volunteer, Shailaja who was at Bellary Road said that the divider on the road was too high as a result many people faced difficulty in crossing it. She also added that though the pelican lights were functioning, the duration for the same was bare minimal.“The pelican lights for the pedestrian turns green only for 16 seconds and an average person takes a minimum of 20 seconds to cross the road.When we spoke to the traffic police who was standing across the road from Esteem Mall, all he said was that he can’t do anything. He just shuddered,” she said.The volunteers plan to inspect and visit another 30 odd locations across the city over the next six to eight weeks. “Once we are done compiling all the data we will then present it to the BBMP.We would like for more pelican lights to be added at regular zebra crossing. Most of the footpaths in the city are in a miserable condition.They must be repaired. And lastly, motorists who ride on the pavements must be penalised.It has become the done thing,” said Anitha.