Shortest route to the longest traffic jam

With an average of 25,000 new vehicles rolling on the over-burdened city's roads each month, controlling the traffic woes has become a big nuisance and of late facing the heat, especially during the rainy days, are Tavarekere Main Road and SG Palya.

Vehicles from all four sides intersect at one point, near 1st cross, which is followed by utter chaos and most importantly there is not a single traffic constable deputed to handle the situation, even after intimation about the fact for months now.

Tavarekere Main Road witnesses vehicles from BTM Layout, St John hospitals road and vehicles which take this route as a short cut towards Banshankari and Jayanagar. "During peak hours one can see vehicles lined up on the entire stretch of Tavarekere Main Road till Christ School. The situation becomes even more worse when the marriage halls near Christ School hold wedding ceremonies, " said Parvathy, a resident of SG Palya and a homemaker.

Expressing his discontent at the situation, Rijvi, a shopkeeper in the locality says, "The situation during rains is horrifying. All sides are blocked and you feel you are in a trap. No matter which way you opt for, a traffic jam is bound to welcome you. Few months ago, we saw a home guard trying to manage the traffic, but he too disappeared."

The area Sub-Inspector A Khan said, “The lanes in the locality are extremely narrow. Hence, during peak hours the traffic increases. We have not posted a traffic constable there, but we do have a home guard posted to mange the traffic."

When we quizzed further on the rare appearance of the home guard, he said, "I will look into the matter and fix the traffic issues in that locality soon." 

Agreeing to A Khan, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Bangalore Traffic), M A Saleem said, "We understand that Tavarekere Main Road and SG Palya is in a very bad shape. At present, our priority is to fix the issues near Sagar Hospital and then slowly we will move towards other surrounding areas. However, we will soon put up medians near Christ University and any sort of U-turn near the University will be banned."