DNA Article Features Babajob
1
This road needs policing, not widening On the stretch of Bannerghatta Road running through Marble Street, businessmen don’t want a project that will gobble up their shops. As such, competition is fierce and road widening will only ruin them, they fear. Efficient traffic policing and one-way system can ease traffic Shilpa CB This patch of Bannerghatta Road is the famed Marble Bazaar or Marble Street. It is the ‘unofficial name’ given to the area where transactions running into crores of rupees are done every day. Now traders are up against the road widening project which they fear would affect their rev- enue. They are in no mood to let go of their precious space. “Let the govern- ment find some oth- er way. Make a road on top or down... whatever. We are not for widening,” says Atul Gand- hi, a businessman. A vehement ‘no’ is what one hears from most businessmen in this market which is over two decades old. “The number of vehicles is rising rapidly. So what is the point of widening? This is not a highway. Traffic flows smoothly most hours of the day,” says VK Gupta, a trader who owns a 30-year-old business. Gupta also owns a two- storey building in the 30x50 sq ft plot. The top floors are resi- dences in this ‘industrial area’. Most businessmen who own buildings live on top floors and run their business- es from their ground floor of- fices and showrooms. In this context, transferable develop- ment rights (TDR) is irrele- vant, they say. “It is impractical to have showrooms on top floors. We need lots of space on the ground floor to store and display heavy marble slabs,” says a trader. Gupta will have to give up 30x18 sq ft of this if widening is undertaken. “About 50% of my building will go. Two pil- lars of the five on which my building stands will be brought down. Where will the families go,” asks Gupta. Harish Patel, a young busi- nessman who has his resi- dence on the first floor and a glass and plywood shop on the ground floor, is worried about being displaced by what he calls “overwidening”. The civic authorities are trying to acquire more than what is re- quired, he says. “It should be controlled widening. They are asking for 5 metres which is way too much,” says Patel who owns 120x30 sq ft and may have to give up 15x30 sq ft if one is to go by the markings on the wall of his property. Patel says he will go up to 5x30 sq ft if the matter is open to negotiation. The matter, however, is old news. Widening has been shelved, the discussion too has died down. Why, things have improved greatly after the patch on the road on the bridge was widened. Traffic flow could be streamlined with more vigilant and dedicated policing, locals say. “The underpass at Dairy Circle has been a boon. So right from Hosur Road to the circle, there are no issues,” says Nandu Patel, a trader. Although heavy vehicles are not allowed between 11 am and 5 pm, they are still found parked by the side, either be- ing loaded or unloaded, hin- dering traffic movement. “When a truck makes a turn, it blocks traffic on both sides. Who is to stop them,” asks Babu S, an oil vendor. Most of the vehicles that use this link road originate be- yond the circle from Ban- nerghatta Road and move to- wards MG Road, Brigade Road and Shivajinagar. Buses are few, so autos and cars with sin- gle passengers take up plenty of space. “The huge Hosur Road is right here. When that is being widened, why do anything here,” says Mukesh Patel, a trader. “The Metro work is under way. We are already los- ing land to that project,” says Balasubramaniam K, a sales- man at a shop selling analog weighing scales. Competition has dealt a blow to their business. Such projects will only sink them further. “The road is quite wide. Unruly vehicles have taken over them. Traffic can be managed by efficient polic- ing. It will help bring back cus- tomers,” says Mahaveer Sanghvi, a salesman at one of the establishments. “The junctions have to be addressed first. Underpasses can also be created,” says a landlord G Gopal Reddy. There are a few suggestions by the local residents: Makes this road a one-way, allow right turn at Adugodi Junc- tion so that not everyone is who wants to reach Dairy Cir- cle is forced to turn into Ban- nerghatta Road at the Hosur Road junction. [email protected] Although heavy vehicles are not allowed between 11 am and 5 pm, they are still found parked by the side, either being loaded or unloaded, hindering traffic movement Medians will streamline two-way traffic but restrict movement of trucks transporting heavy material to shops in Marble Street on Bannerghatta Road —Nishant Ratnakar TDR TANGLE BK Lakshmikantha Victoria is one of the prominent hospitals in the state. But the condition of the road in front of this 109-year-old institution is causing pain to visitors. The stretch is dotted with potholes. Among them are 10 craters. Even though hospital authorities had com- plained about the bad state of the road, civic officials have not taken any step so far to ad- dress the issue. “It is difficult for vehicles to pass on this potholed road. BBMP should start asphalting the stretch so that commuters, especially those coming to the hospital, have a trouble-free ride. Palike should also re- move the toilet standing on the footpath in front of the hospi- tal gate. As it blocks their way, pedestrians are forced to walk on the road and accidents oc- cur,” says a traffic cop. The hospital’s main gate was initially fixed near the city market. But it was closed as vendors from the market kept dumping goods through the gate. A new gate was built near Fort in 1974. A toilet was also constructed near the gate. With the city market on the one side and bus stand on the other and KR Road connecting the city central, thousands of people pass this road every day. “Thousands of vehicles use this to reach the hospital or other places. With BMTC buses and autos blocking the road, it is difficult to take in patients. During emergency, patients may die in the ambu- lance,” says Mahesh, an am- bulance driver. The civic authorities should make a separate lane for ambulances to ensure that patients get medical assis- tance on time. The same prob- lem is faced on the road near Nimhans Hospital. The BBMP provides good roads near pri- vate hospitals and neglects the ones near government hospi- tals, adds Mahesh. Victoria Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr BG Tilak is upset by the condition of road and traffic chaos in front of the hospital gate. “Over the past seven months, we have been sending letters to the BBMP and BMTC to vacate the illegal stalls in front of the hospital gate and shift the bus stop to some other place so that vehi- cles, especially ambulances, can easily enter the hospital. With autos and buses blocking the entry at the gate, it is dif- ficult for ambulances to reach the hospital on time to save pa- tients,” says he. “Auto and bus drivers have ignored my appeals not to halt their vehicles in front of the hospital gate. Instead of un- derstanding the seriousness of the issue, they have often threatened me of dire conse- quences, says Tilak. b_ [email protected] The bus stop in front of Victoria Hospital should be shifted elsewhere for the safety of visitors to the facility —Nishant Ratnakar MICRO LOCAL Road near hospital is a death trap for visitors With autos and buses blocking the entry at the gate, it is difficult for ambulances to reach the hospital on time to save patients BANGALORE | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010 www.dnaindia.com | epaper.dnaindia.com 4 CIVIC CITY BROWSER Wassup Today > Police Department is organising Police Commemoration Day. Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and home minister R Ashoka will participate. When: 8 am Where: CAR Grounds, Mysore Road. Water Woes > A water adalat will be held in North-4 sub-division from 9.30 am to 11.00 am in the office of the assistant executive engineer of North-4 sub-division at Yelahanka. Disputes of customers coming under the jurisdiction of Vidyaranyapuram, Shankarnagar and Yelahanka service station limits will be heard and settled at the adalat. General > Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry is organising an interaction with Dr Ravindra, IAS (retd) and advisor to the chief minster on urban affairs. When: 5 pm Where: Cabinet Hall, FKCCI, Kempe Gowda Road. > All India Yuva Sainika Shibira is holding a national level camp. Governor HR Bhardwaj and Lokayukta Santosh Hegde will take part. When: 10 am Where: Jakkur Aerodrome > Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation is organising inauguration of internet facilities in its buses under its IT & entertainment on wheels scheme. Transport minister R Ashoka will take part. When: 11 am Where: East Gate, Vidhana Soudha. >BGS Global Hospitals and Bangalore Endoscopic Surgery Training Institute and Research are organising their 10th fellowship course and workshop on laparascopic surgery. Adichunchanagiri Mutt pontiff Balagangadharanatha Swamiji will inaugurate the course. When: 10 am Where: SJBIT Auditorium, BGS Global Hospitals > PES Polytechnic is hosting a lecture by Dr BR Ravi. When: 9 am Where: Hanumantnagar. Art & Culture > Kriyative Theatre is staging a play, Gundaayana. Written by Naa Kasturi and Laxmi Chandrashekar. Directed by Joseph. When: 7.30 pm Where: Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar > Indian Music Association is organising a youth music festival and musical tribute to Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawai. Kannada Development Authority chairperson Mukhyamantri Chandru and legislator Ashwathnarayana will take part. When: 5 pm Where: Nayana, Kannada Bhavana, JC Road. > Nehru Yuvaka Kendra and Sneha Ganga Creations are holding Dance Dhamaka 2010, a state-level dance competition. When: 6.30 pm Where: Town Hall, JC Road. >MA Narasimhachar Musical Foundation is holding its 9th annual musical festival. Indian Heritage Academy chairman Prof NS Ramaswamy and singer Dr Sukanya Prabhakar will take part. When: 6 pm Where: Gayana Samaja, KR Road. Positive Thinking > Sri Sringeri Shankara Mutt is organising a special religious programme on the occasion of Navaratri festival. When: Evening Where: Shankarapuram Want your events to appear in DNA? Mail them with relevant photographs and contact information to [email protected]. You can also fax 080-42868801 or call 08042868888 ■ Actor Pooja Gandhi inaugurated Shathayu Ayurveda Centre at HSR Layout in Bangalore on Wednesday Today’s Topper > BMS College of Engineering and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden are organising an international seminar on Excellent Destinations in Sweden for Advanced Education & Research. Former Visvesvaraya Technological University vice-chancellor HP Khincha, Prof Rajeev Thottapillai from the institute and former IAS officer Vijay Gore are taking part. When: Morning Where: College premises, Bull Temple Road. > Makes Marble street road a one-way, allow right turn at Adugodi Junction so that not everyone who wants to reach Dairy Circle is forced to turn into Bannerghatta Road at the Hosur Road junction. > Address traffic issues at junctions first. Underpasses can be created for smooth flow of traffic. > Traffic flow can be streamlined through vigilant and dedicated policing. > See that heavy vehicles enter the area only during allotted hours. Otherwise, they will create road blocks. WEWANT Sean Blagsvedt Road devel- opment has always af- fected low- income earners by displacing them and disrupting their livelihoods. Relocation can create unfea- sible commutes. In our research at Babajob, a desire to reduce commute time is the second most com- monly given reason (after a desire for better pay) for why informal sector workers change jobs. Given that in- formal sector workers typi- cally find employment through their social net- works of friends and neigh- bours, displaced workers of- ten have weaker so- cial connections in new areas and face difficulty in re-es- tablishing their livelihoods. The displacement of these workers has resulted in their relocation to other places, where facilities are not pro- vided, and they continue to live in insecurity, according to Geeta Menon of Stree Ja- gruti Samiti, a domestic workers’ rights group. Road widening can also make walking more danger- ous for pedestrians. Ansar Ahmed, a local auto-rick- shaw driver, explains how his “job is harder” because with- out footpaths he “must watch out for people walking on the road” and for those who dart across wider streets. Whenever a road is widened, the additional space is always given to motorised traffic. Why can’t we widen the road, and give the new space to footpaths so that we have wide sidewalks? With Bangalore adding over 670 cars per day, traffic density and commute times are increasing. Informal sec- tor workers often experience acute increases in commute times since public trans- portation is their only option. Babajob’s research found that average commute time for job seekers has increased drastically in the last three years. This has effectively reduced avail- able job opportunities by lim- iting their job search area and has created an unequal dispersion of labour. For ex- ample, in richer and remote areas such as Whitefield, we have seen wages increase as em- ployers face a constrained supply of available labour. Road widening may be in- evitable but it should cer- tainly be better executed. Any road widening must take place with transparency and with the participation and consent of the local commu- nity. In Bhubhaneshwar, the administration widened the roads. But it also implement- ed hawking zones for street vendors. Today we see clear benefits – the street vendors are in the same place with better stalls, the road is wider with green cover and traffic moves faster, says Menon. — The writer is the CEO of Babajob.com, a Banga- lore-based website connect- ing informal sector job seekers and employers Whenever a road is widened, give some space to footpaths so pedestrians can walk freely Widening is all right, but first seek the consent of citizens EXPERT VIEW Flyovers and Metro are the answers to traffic woes WIDENING ROADS IS AN OUTDATED MODE OF DEVELOPMENT SPEAKUP SMARTCLIP HOW TO INSTALL RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEM AT HOME Rainwater harvesting in urban areas is the process of collecting, filtering and using rainwater, which falls on rooftops and in the portico of the house. The concept can be adopted in three ways: by recharging bore wells near homes, recharging ground water sources and collecting rainwater for reuse so that power can be saved. Water falling on flat roofs is directed to run through pipes and is prevented from flowing off to the drains. The water is filtered and stored in tanks. For sloped roofs, a gutter should be attached to roofs and water collected be made to go through a pipe attached to the end of the gutter. For details, call: 080 23341652 or 155313 Or log on to www.kscst.iisc.ernet.in / rwh.html or www.bwssb.org Send in your suggestions at k d @ il ALERT Widening will help in reducing traffic congestion in city. But that alone will not do. Proper planning of traffic and flyovers is also necessary for a lasting solution to road chaos. Jisla Xavier Flyovers and Metro are the answers to traffic woes. This way, people will not be displaced and vehicles will have more options too. Widening is an outdated mode of growth. Parameshwara BA Smooth traffic comes with a combination of factors such as people’s respect for law, authorities’ will to implement law, scientific traffic management and good infrastructure. Saranya Naidu Widening is a common thing. Law asks those building roadside homes to leave some space in front. But BBMP must give fair compensation to those affected by the project. KK Mishra
description
DNA Article Interviews CEO of Babajob Sean Blagsvedt
Transcript of DNA Article Features Babajob
This road needs policing, not wideningOn the stretch of Bannerghatta Road running through Marble Street, businessmen don’t want a project that will gobble up their shops. As such,competition is fierce and road widening will only ruin them, they fear. Efficient traffic policing and one-way system can ease traffic
Shilpa CB
This patch of BannerghattaRoad is the famed MarbleBazaar or Marble Street. It isthe ‘unofficial name’ given tothe area where transactionsrunning into crores of rupeesare done every day. Nowtraders are up against the roadwidening project which theyfear would affect their rev-enue. They are in no mood tolet go of their precious space.
“Let the govern-ment find some oth-er way. Make a roadon top or down...whatever. We are notfor widening,” says Atul Gand-hi, a businessman.
A vehement ‘no’ is what onehears from most businessmenin this market which is overtwo decades old. “The numberof vehicles is rising rapidly. Sowhat is the point of widening?This is not a highway. Trafficflows smoothly most hours ofthe day,” says VK Gupta, atrader who owns a 30-year-oldbusiness.
Gupta also owns a two-storey building in the 30x50 sqft plot. The top floors are resi-dences in this ‘industrialarea’. Most businessmen whoown buildings live on topfloors and run their business-es from their ground floor of-fices and showrooms. In thiscontext, transferable develop-ment rights (TDR) is irrele-vant, they say.
“It is impractical to haveshowrooms on top floors. We
need lots of space onthe ground floor tostore and displayheavy marble slabs,”says a trader.
Gupta will have to give up30x18 sq ft of this if wideningis undertaken. “About 50% ofmy building will go. Two pil-lars of the five on which mybuilding stands will bebrought down. Where will thefamilies go,” asks Gupta.
Harish Patel, a young busi-nessman who has his resi-dence on the first floor and aglass and plywood shop on theground floor, is worried about
being displaced by what hecalls “overwidening”. Thecivic authorities are trying toacquire more than what is re-quired, he says.
“It should be controlledwidening. They are asking for5 metres which is way toomuch,” says Patel who owns120x30 sq ft and may have togive up 15x30 sq ft if one is togo by the markings on the wallof his property. Patel says hewill go up to 5x30 sq ft if thematter is open to negotiation.
The matter, however, is oldnews. Widening has beenshelved, the discussion too hasdied down. Why, things haveimproved greatly after thepatch on the road on the bridgewas widened. Traffic flowcould be streamlined withmore vigilant and dedicatedpolicing, locals say.
“The underpass at Dairy
Circle has been a boon. Soright from Hosur Road to thecircle, there are no issues,”says Nandu Patel, a trader.
Although heavy vehiclesare not allowed between 11 amand 5 pm, they are still foundparked by the side, either be-ing loaded or unloaded, hin-dering traffic movement.
“When a truck makes aturn, it blocks traffic on bothsides. Who is to stop them,”asks Babu S, an oil vendor.
Most of the vehicles thatuse this link road originate be-yond the circle from Ban-nerghatta Road and move to-wards MG Road, Brigade Roadand Shivajinagar. Buses arefew, so autos and cars with sin-gle passengers take up plentyof space.
“The huge Hosur Road isright here. When that is beingwidened, why do anything
here,” says Mukesh Patel, atrader. “The Metro work isunder way. We are already los-ing land to that project,” saysBalasubramaniam K, a sales-man at a shop selling analogweighing scales.
Competition has dealt ablow to their business. Suchprojects will only sink themfurther. “The road is quitewide. Unruly vehicles havetaken over them. Traffic canbe managed by efficient polic-ing. It will help bring back cus-tomers,” says MahaveerSanghvi, a salesman at one ofthe establishments.
“The junctions have to beaddressed first. Underpassescan also be created,” says alandlord G Gopal Reddy.
There are a few suggestionsby the local residents: Makesthis road a one-way, allowright turn at Adugodi Junc-tion so that not everyone iswho wants to reach Dairy Cir-cle is forced to turn into Ban-nerghatta Road at the HosurRoad junction.
Although heavy vehicles are not allowedbetween 11 am and 5 pm, they are still foundparked by the side, either being loaded orunloaded, hindering traffic movement
Medians will streamline two-way traffic but restrict movement of trucks transporting heavy material to shops in Marble Street on Bannerghatta Road —Nishant Ratnakar
TDRTANGLE
BK Lakshmikantha
Victoria is one of the prominenthospitals in the state. But thecondition of the road in front ofthis 109-year-old institution iscausing pain to visitors.
The stretch is dotted withpotholes. Among them are 10craters. Even though hospital
authoritieshad com-plainedabout thebad state of
the road, civic officials havenot taken any step so far to ad-dress the issue.
“It is difficult for vehicles topass on this potholed road.BBMP should start asphaltingthe stretch so that commuters,especially those coming to thehospital, have a trouble-freeride. Palike should also re-move the toilet standing on thefootpath in front of the hospi-tal gate. As it blocks their way,
pedestrians are forced to walkon the road and accidents oc-cur,” says a traffic cop.
The hospital’s main gatewas initially fixed near thecity market. But it was closedas vendors from the marketkept dumping goods throughthe gate. A new gate was built
near Fort in 1974. A toilet wasalso constructed near the gate.
With the city market on theone side and bus stand on theother and KR Road connectingthe city central, thousands ofpeople pass this road everyday. “Thousands of vehiclesuse this to reach the hospital
or other places. With BMTCbuses and autos blocking theroad, it is difficult to take inpatients. During emergency,patients may die in the ambu-lance,” says Mahesh, an am-bulance driver.
The civic authoritiesshould make a separate lanefor ambulances to ensure thatpatients get medical assis-tance on time. The same prob-lem is faced on the road nearNimhans Hospital. The BBMPprovides good roads near pri-vate hospitals and neglects theones near government hospi-tals, adds Mahesh.
Victoria Hospital’s medicalsuperintendent Dr BG Tilak isupset by the condition of roadand traffic chaos in front ofthe hospital gate.
“Over the past sevenmonths, we have been sendingletters to the BBMP andBMTC to vacate the illegalstalls in front of the hospitalgate and shift the bus stop tosome other place so that vehi-cles, especially ambulances,can easily enter the hospital.With autos and buses blockingthe entry at the gate, it is dif-ficult for ambulances to reachthe hospital on time to save pa-tients,” says he.
“Auto and bus drivers haveignored my appeals not to halttheir vehicles in front of thehospital gate. Instead of un-derstanding the seriousness ofthe issue, they have oftenthreatened me of dire conse-quences, says Tilak.
The bus stop in front of Victoria Hospital should be shiftedelsewhere for the safety of visitors to the facility
—Nishant Ratnakar
MICROLOCAL
Road near hospital is a death trap for visitorsWith autos andbuses blocking theentry at the gate, it isdifficult forambulances to reachthe hospital on timeto save patients
BANGALORE | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010
www.dnaindia.com | epaper.dnaindia.com 4CIVICCITY
BROWSER
Wassup Today> Police Department isorganising PoliceCommemoration Day. Chiefminister BS Yeddyurappa andhome minister R Ashoka willparticipate.When: 8 amWhere: CAR Grounds, MysoreRoad.
Water Woes> A water adalat will be heldin North-4 sub-division from9.30 am to 11.00 am in theoffice of the assistantexecutive engineer of North-4sub-division at Yelahanka.Disputes of customers comingunder the jurisdiction ofVidyaranyapuram,Shankarnagar and Yelahankaservice station limits will beheard and settled at the adalat.
General> Federation of KarnatakaChambers of Commerce andIndustry is organising aninteraction with Dr Ravindra,IAS (retd) and advisor to thechief minster on urban affairs.When: 5 pmWhere: Cabinet Hall, FKCCI,Kempe Gowda Road.
>All India Yuva SainikaShibira is holding a nationallevel camp. Governor HRBhardwaj and LokayuktaSantosh Hegde will take part.When: 10 amWhere: Jakkur Aerodrome
> Bangalore MetropolitanTransport Corporation isorganising inauguration ofinternet facilities in its busesunder its IT & entertainment onwheels scheme. Transportminister R Ashoka will takepart.When: 11 amWhere: East Gate, VidhanaSoudha.
>BGS Global Hospitals andBangalore EndoscopicSurgery Training Institute andResearch are organising their10th fellowship course andworkshop on laparascopicsurgery. Adichunchanagiri Muttpontiff BalagangadharanathaSwamiji will inaugurate thecourse.When: 10 amWhere: SJBIT Auditorium, BGSGlobal Hospitals
>PES Polytechnic is hosting alecture by Dr BR Ravi.When: 9 amWhere: Hanumantnagar.
Art & Culture> Kriyative Theatre is staginga play, Gundaayana. Written byNaa Kasturi and LaxmiChandrashekar. Directed byJoseph.When: 7.30 pmWhere: Ranga Shankara, JPNagar
> Indian Music Association isorganising a youth musicfestival and musical tribute toGanayogi Panchakshari Gawai.Kannada DevelopmentAuthority chairpersonMukhyamantri Chandru andlegislator Ashwathnarayanawill take part.When: 5 pmWhere: Nayana, KannadaBhavana, JC Road.
>Nehru Yuvaka Kendra andSneha Ganga Creations areholding Dance Dhamaka 2010,a state-level dancecompetition.When: 6.30 pmWhere: Town Hall, JC Road.
>MA Narasimhachar MusicalFoundation is holding its 9thannual musical festival. IndianHeritage Academy chairmanProf NS Ramaswamy andsinger Dr Sukanya Prabhakarwill take part.When: 6 pmWhere: Gayana Samaja, KRRoad.
Positive Thinking> Sri Sringeri Shankara Muttis organising a special religiousprogramme on the occasion ofNavaratri festival.When: EveningWhere: Shankarapuram
Want your events to appearin DNA? Mail them with
relevant photographs andcontact information to
[email protected] can also fax080-42868801
or call 08042868888
■ Actor Pooja Gandhiinaugurated ShathayuAyurveda Centre at HSRLayout in Bangalore onWednesday
Today’s Topper> BMS College ofEngineering and RoyalInstitute of Technology(KTH), Sweden areorganising an internationalseminar on ExcellentDestinations in Sweden forAdvanced Education &Research. FormerVisvesvaraya TechnologicalUniversity vice-chancellorHP Khincha, Prof RajeevThottapillai from theinstitute and former IASofficer Vijay Gore aretaking part.When: MorningWhere: College premises,Bull Temple Road.
> Makes Marble streetroad a one-way, allowright turn at AdugodiJunction so that noteveryone who wants toreach Dairy Circle isforced to turn intoBannerghatta Road atthe Hosur Road junction.
> Address traffic issues atjunctions first.Underpasses can becreated for smooth flowof traffic.
> Traffic flow can bestreamlined throughvigilant and dedicatedpolicing.
> See that heavy vehiclesenter the area onlyduring allotted hours.Otherwise, they willcreate road blocks.
WEWANT
Sean Blagsvedt
Road devel-opment hasalways af-fected low-incomeearners bydisplacingthem and
disrupting their livelihoods.Relocation can create unfea-sible commutes.
In our research at Babajob,a desire to reduce commutetime is the second most com-monly given reason (after adesire for better pay) for whyinformal sector workerschange jobs. Given that in-formal sector workers typi-cally find employmentthrough their social net-works of friends and neigh-bours, displaced workers of-ten have weaker so-cial connections innew areas and facedifficulty in re-es-tablishing theirlivelihoods.
The displacement of theseworkers has resulted in theirrelocation to other places,where facilities are not pro-vided, and they continue tolive in insecurity, accordingto Geeta Menon of Stree Ja-gruti Samiti, a domesticworkers’ rights group.
Road widening can alsomake walking more danger-ous for pedestrians. AnsarAhmed, a local auto-rick-shaw driver, explains how his“job is harder” because with-out footpaths he “must watchout for people walking on theroad” and for those who dartacross wider streets.
Whenever a road iswidened, the additional spaceis always given to motorisedtraffic. Why can’t we widenthe road, and give the newspace to footpaths so that we
have wide sidewalks? With Bangalore adding
over 670 cars per day, trafficdensity and commute timesare increasing. Informal sec-tor workers often experienceacute increases in commutetimes since public trans-
portation is their only option.Babajob’s research foundthat average commute timefor job seekers has increaseddrastically in the last threeyears. This has
effectively reduced avail-able job opportunities by lim-iting their job search area
and has created anunequal dispersionof labour. For ex-ample, in richerand remote areas
such as Whitefield, we haveseen wages increase as em-ployers face a constrainedsupply of available labour.
Road widening may be in-evitable but it should cer-tainly be better executed.Any road widening must takeplace with transparency andwith the participation andconsent of the local commu-nity. In Bhubhaneshwar, theadministration widened theroads. But it also implement-ed hawking zones for streetvendors. Today we see clearbenefits – the street vendorsare in the same place withbetter stalls, the road is widerwith green cover and trafficmoves faster, says Menon.
— The writer is the CEOof Babajob.com, a Banga-lore-based website connect-
ing informal sector jobseekers and employers
Whenever a road iswidened, give somespace to footpathsso pedestrians canwalk freely
Widening is all right,but first seek the consent of citizens
EXPERTVIEW
Flyovers and Metro are the answers to traffic woesWIDENING ROADS IS AN OUTDATED MODE OF DEVELOPMENTSPEAKUP SMARTCLIP
HOW TO INSTALL RAINWATER HARVESTINGSYSTEM AT HOME
Rainwater harvesting inurban areas is theprocess of collecting,filtering and usingrainwater, which fallson rooftops and in theportico of the house.The concept can beadopted in three ways:by recharging borewells near homes,recharging groundwater sources andcollecting rainwater forreuse so that powercan be saved.
Water falling on flatroofs is directed to run
through pipes and isprevented from flowingoff to the drains. Thewater is filtered andstored in tanks. Forsloped roofs, a guttershould be attached toroofs and watercollected be made to gothrough a pipeattached to the end ofthe gutter.
For details, call: 08023341652 or 155313Or log on towww.kscst.iisc.ernet.in/ rwh.html orwww.bwssb.org
Send in your suggestions atk d @ il
ALERT
Widening will help inreducing traffic
congestion in city. Butthat alone will not do.Proper planning of trafficand flyovers is alsonecessary for a lastingsolution to road chaos.
Jisla Xavier
Flyovers and Metroare the answers to
traffic woes. This way,people will not bedisplaced and vehicleswill have more optionstoo. Widening is anoutdated mode of growth.
Parameshwara BA
Smooth traffic comeswith a combination of
factors such as people’srespect for law,authorities’ will toimplement law, scientifictraffic management andgood infrastructure.
Saranya Naidu
Widening is acommon thing. Law
asks those buildingroadside homes to leavesome space in front. ButBBMP must give faircompensation to thoseaffected by the project.
KK Mishra
