Bangaloreans face one of their worst Mondays on Nov 17th
Event - JD(S) convention
Location - Convention at the Palace grounds. Traffic chaos, people put to great inconvenience - Almost all of North and Central Bangalore and for most of Monday.
People affected : Many many thousands. And this includes school children returning home, patients needing emergency care in ambulances, office goers returning home after a hard day’s work, etc.
Who is responsible : Firstly the Government for letting an event of this scale happen within the city limits and not thinking of the consequences. The JD(S) honchos for being as insensitive towards Bangalore’s denizens. The cops and traffic cops for not having raised their voice against the event when they are well aware of their limitations.
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It was extremely disheartening to read the newspaper reports of all that happened on Monday because of the JD(S) convention. Excerpts:
Deccan Herald: Struggling in this virtual sea of vehicles and humanity were ambulances, office-goers and scores of schoolchildren, their parents desperately waiting back home. “My five-year-old son has been stranded in his bus. I’ve been anxiously waiting for the vehicle although the school closed hours back. It is just not fair to hold us to ransom.” this outburst by a mother, Preeti Sundarajan, summed up the mood.
Many children weren’t home even after dark. Anil Jain, a resident of Chickpet and a parent called up Deccan Herald saying: “My son Samir Jain, a first standard student of Vidya Shilp is stranded in the traffic jam while travelling by the school bus. Using the driver’s cell phone, he calls me and complains that he wants to go attend nature’s call. There is no way, i can reach him.”
Bangalore Mirror: Kumaraswamy was in no mood to apologise for Monday’s traffic snarls, except for passing reference to the inconvenience caused to school going kids. “I understand the inconvenience caused to them. But still, having walked a little distance, that too for a day, there is no need for a greater discussion. Today, even after 50-years of independence, children in villages travel seven to eight kilometres everyday to attend class. Have we ever talked about this? Let city people understand the reality and plight of rural children too,” he fumed.
WHY BANGALORE, WHY MONDAY?
Clarifying the party’s decision to hold the rally at the Palace Grounds, Kumaraswamy said, “We tried our best to find out places in the outskirts of the city. We saw a few places near Devanahalli but they were not convenient enough to hold a massive rally and so we finalised on Palace Grounds. Monday was chosen because it is the day when farmers do not work in fields as they usually plan to attend the weekly trade fair. Generally, not much agricultural activities happen on Monday so we had the rally on Monday facilitating the large participation of farmers.”
A friend I know, was stuck near the cantonment station from about 6.00 pm in his office cab. The vehicles ahead of them were stuck there, for what seemed like eternity. So, he and a few of his colleagues just decided to walk home to Hebbal. They saw many school children and ambulances just stuck in the mess of traffic. It took many many hours for all the people at the convention to get out and for the traffic to clear.
If a Monday was chosen because farmers have that day off, then go to a place where the farmers live! What is the logic in choosing a city venue on a day when the farmers have the day off and the city people are working a full day??!!!
From Deccan Herald: Even going by the City’s notorious traffic situation, it takes about an hour to navigate a distance of 8 kms. But on Monday, it was a never-ending road-trip. Some of our readers share their experience:
* Vidya Shilp school (near Hebbal) to Chickpet: 7 hours
* Cambridge layout to Hegde
Nagar: 6 hrs
* Cantonment Railway station to
Kempapura (near Hebbal flyover): nearly 5 hrs.
* Rajbhavan to Sadashivnagar via
Seshadripuram 1st Main Road:
4 hrs.
* BEL Road to Benson Town (traffic was diverted): 7 hrs.
* Tumkur Road to BEL circle: 4 hrs.
* Tannery Road to R T Nagar: 5 hrs.
* Coles Park to new air port: 7 hrs
* Many who boarded BMTC buses lost their patience and decided to walk.
* Outside Cauvery theatre, vehicles coming out after the matinee and 1st show added to the chaos.
* Magic boxes near Sadashivnagar and CBI circle showed up their inadequacies.
* In front of Doordarshan and Munireddy Palya there were many dramas.
* Not to mention, exit points to Mysore, Tumkur, Hosur, Hoskote highways was chaotic
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