Pedestrians pushed to use the road

BANGALORE: Domlur flyover was touted as a major achievement in the development of the city. While it helped in regulating the flow of vehicles in the area, the pedestrians complain of negligence towards their plight.The walkways connecting the four roads is filled with garbage forcing people to compete for space with speeding vehicles. The garbage includes construction debris left by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board months after they completed work near the Domlur Flyover.To add to their problems, the walkway from Indiranagar 100 feet Road towards Old Airport Road is used by hotels in the vicinity to store their equipment.“I have to pass through this road everyday and traffic is always heavy on this stretch. It is really inconvenient to use the footpath and taking the road is scary but there is no other option. I risk my life on all five working days of the week,” says Kahuwa Das, who works as a content writer at a private firm in Domlur. Expressing a similar opinion is Chidanand, a resident of Indiranagar, who says walking on the footpath is not even an option anymore as it is “too narrow and full of garbage.” “I think people really need to acquire civic sense and stop using the walkways as a dustbin. The dust from the debris chokes people, who attempt to walk on this road,” he says.The Corporator of Domlur, Geetha Srinivas Reddy, too is very angry with the situation where the fault is not allegedly with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) but for which the BBMP inevitably is blamed. “It is not the BBMP which is responsible of clearing debris left by BWSSB. It is the task of BWSSB. Last time when the residents of the Diamond District blamed the BBMP for the mess, I asked our engineer Hedge to remove about 20 tonnes of UGD pipes from the spot. For the last six months, I have been pressurising the BWSSB officials to remove the debris and clean the area,” she says. When questioned on the condition of the footpaths, she replied, “We are going to introduce a project in the next council. The project will include footpath development and  park development among other things. We will address all these issues.”