Bengaluru: Despite deploying 2,200 personnel on the ground and carrying out targeted interventions on chronic bottlenecks, inadequate civic infrastructure is proving to be a bigger challenge for Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP).
For instance, the downpour earlier this week still turned the Outer Ring Road (ORR) into a virtual waterway, bringing traffic from KR Puram to Silk Board to a near standstill and exposing the severe limitations of the BTP’s strategy.
The police force had mapped 137 water hot spots and put heavy machinery into service for quick water purification.
Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the BTP marked vulnerable locations with civic agencies, prioritizing chronic bottlenecks in Mahadevapura Zone, including Bellandur, Marathahalli Junction, Mahadevapura, Kadubeesanahalli and parts of HSR Layout.
Authorities immediately notified GBA, Bescom and BWSSB whenever blockages or floods were reported.
To speed up the clearing of fallen trees and stuck vehicles, the traffic police have deployed tree cutters, JCBs and tow trucks on major corridors including Nayandahalli Junction, Goraguntepalya, Dairy Circle, Silk Board Junction and Sindhoor Choultry Junction.
Reddy said personnel will set up barricades and divert motorists along pre-planned alternate routes whenever the underpasses are flooded.
To manage the heavier evening traffic during the rains, the traffic police have deployed more than 2,200 personnel, home guards and traffic wardens equipped with raincoats and reflective jackets.
Despite these measures, the ORR was flooded, submerging stretches around Bellandur, Panathur, Varthur and Marathahalli.
The rain stranded office workers, taxis and vehicle passengers for hours. Travelers said the two-kilometer journey took several hours.
Traffic personnel blamed the congestion on narrow carriageways around the drainage widening works and the storm water drainage network which overflowed within minutes.
“During heavy rain, the existing storm water network overflows almost immediately. Despite our personnel working past midnight to divert vehicles, the volume of traffic during peak hours did not reduce until the flood water receded,” said a traffic policeman.
Commuters said ongoing construction had reduced parts of the corridor to a single muddy lane, worsening congestion.
“The new double decker was supposed to ease Silk Board Junction, but now it has shifted the congestion to Marathahalli and Bellandur. The ongoing sewer widening work has reduced the usable road to a single muddy lane. Last night’s rainfall turns the entire corridor into a stagnant pool,” said our car’s daily, leaving us speechless.
Residents also complained about ongoing maintenance problems.
“Every time a heavy bus moves through the flooded area, it creates a wave that pushes dirty and black sewage water onto the footpaths,” Rohan added.
“The authorities come and dig up the shoulder drains every summer, leaving the sludge right at the edge of the pavement, and the first rain washes it right in.”
