The long standing demand to fix potholes and expand roads resounded at Namma Raste, a discussion forum on road infrastructure facilitated by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from Dec. 8 to Dec. 12.
Several citizens of Bangalore took to the BBMP initiative, Namma Raste as a platform to voice their concerns about bad road infrastructure in the city. Residents from Balagere, Panathur and commuters on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) were most vocal in expressing their dissatisfaction with pothole-ridden and silted roads.
A BBMP official who attended the conference held at the BBMP head office said that several residents of the city urged the authorities to fix broken pavements, mend potholes and to expand narrow roads. “Some also talked of improving the state of the pedestrian underpasses in the city and installing escalators or elevators at foot overbridges,” the official added.
“BBMP elections when?”, “I risked my life crossing the road to reach this event.”, “Fix Pavements” were some of the public responses as written in the public grievance whiteboard in the event.
Whitefield Rising, a citizen group brought up the issue of hindered pedestrian movement at the Kadugodi metro and bus terminals. Namma Balagere, another citizen group reiterated their demand for widening the Panathur railway underpass on S Cross road and widening the Balagere road.
Anil Budur Lulla, an independent journalist from Bangalore took to X (earlier Twitter) to voice his concern. He wrote, “Ironic! The Namma Raste exhibition is on while citizens in another part of the city are protesting, demanding better roads and connectivity.”
The BBMP, in collaboration with World Resources Institute (India), Initiative for Global Road Safety and Bloomberg Philanthropies organised ‘Namma Raste’ to enable discussions and plans aimed at safer roads, pedestrian safety, boosting public transport and inclusive and climate resilient streets and public spaces. Engineers, urban mobility planners and street designers, architects, citizen groups, transport experts, students, residents and journalists were among the list of attendees and speakers. B.S. Prahllad BBMP chief engineer, spoke on the importance of making the city safe, inclusive and resilient. He talked about cementing potholes, footpath connectivity, pedestrian safety and increase in private vehicles among other issues related to infrastructure.
Claudia Adriozola, an urban mobility designer and planner shared her insights on effective road design so as to reduce the number of road accidents. She said that speed cushions, chicanes, raised crosswalks and curb extensions are some features of road design which should be incorporated into urban roads.
Shachi Pathak, a Bangalore resident who was present at the conference conveyed on behalf of Kaggadasapura residents the inconvenience they are currently facing due to road diversions announced around the under-construction Kaggadasapura flyover.
The event, originally scheduled from Dec. 8 to Dec. 9 was extended till Dec 12 on popular demand. However, several residents were unaware that the event took place. Sowmya, a college student said that she has not heard of Namma Raste. Many metro commuters also said that they had not heard about the event.
Anurag, a member of road safety NGO, TRAX, said, “Good roads are a basic minimum need of the citizens which municipal bodies must respect. Pothole-ridden roads and broken pavements pose threat to the safety of pedestrians, ranging from small school children to senior citizens.” He added that a big, developed city like Bangalore should not have these basic infrastructural issues. He also advocated for an inclusive and eco-friendly development.
