Sankey Road: Bangalore civic body’s defence in court will rest on traffic density

With the Sankey Road widening issue set to come up for hearing in the high court on Tuesday, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) would file its objections in the court on Saturday.

Sources in the BBMP said that the list of objections include the status of traffic density along Sankey Road (T Chowdaiah Road) between Yeshwantpur and Cauvery Junction.

“We are also highlighting the existing bottlenecks along the stretch and thereby stressing the need for road widening,” said a source.

They further said that the Major Roads wing of the BBMP is also set to give details about the traffic chaos along the stretch due to the bottleneck at the Bhashyam Circle.

“The fact that the road narrows down to just 12 m from 27 m, would be made clear and through this, the need for cutting trees would be explained,” said an official.

“We will also explain to the court that the plan to widen the road to 30 m has been reduced to 27 m to minimise cutting of trees,” he added.

The BBMP officials said the list of objections also include the point that widening of the road has been proposed in the Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015 formulated by the Bangalore Development Authority.

“The BBMP is only the implementing authority and the work orders of `20 crore have been issued to four contractors,” said another official. The BBMP has also added in the objections list that the road from CNR Rao Junction to Yeshwantpur Junction would be widened to 45 metres.

Meanwhile, citizens protesting the widening are planning to gather at Sankey Road this Sunday. “The idea is to sensitise people to the civic authority’s approach to planning. It’s not just a few trees on one stretch. The stress is on environmental conservation, sustainable development and proper traffic management. We are trying to sensitise people. It is not a local problem but one that will affect everyone across the city. We are fighting for a consultative process, pan-Bangalore improvement in traffic management, for the betterment of the city,” said Dr Meenakshi Bharath.

It may be recalled that following the BBMP auction, all except two trees on Sankey Tank bund stretch were auctioned and felled. The high court later granted a stay order, preventing the BBMP from axing two trees.