Pics: Spoorthi Ullal/Abhijit Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Nov 10: Smart City project in Mangaluru is being executed. The decision to divert traffic to pave way for undertaking the Smart City project work has led to traffic chaos in the city and irked the public a lot as the diversions make it very inconvenient for the public to reach their destinations beyond Hampankatta.
A few weeks ago, for the purpose of Smart City project, the entry to Car Street was restricted. Now, reaching Hampankatta has been turned into an uphill task for the public due to the ongoing smart city work.
Two days ago, the road diversion order was issued, enforcing one-way traffic from Hampankatta to Navbharath circle. All traffic movement from Navbharath circle to Hampankatta has been banned during this period till January 2021.
All vehicles proceeding towards Light House Hill and Falnir from Hampankatta should take the longer route to PVS via KS Rao Road or Ambedkar circle. All vehicles approaching from Ambedkar circle towards Hampankatta should use Milagres cross road in front of Aravind Motors showroom at Balmatta Road and enter Falnir road. From there they have to go through Wenlock hospital underpass, railway station road, U P Mallya Road, adjacent to taluk panchayat office and proceed towards A B Shetty Circle.
All kinds of vehicle parking is prohibited on Milagres road. All vehicular movement from railway station via Wenlock hospital underpass towards Hampankatta junction will be banned.
Two-way traffic has been allowed from Ambedkar Circle to Light House Hill Road. These restrictions, however, do not apply to emergency service and police vehicles.
It is hard for the people to cope with such decisions spanning months in this situation. The roads in Mangaluru are so narrow and hence the traffic movement will slow down and lead to chaos in the entire city, leaving the people frustrated.
The current arrangement, imposed on them all of a sudden, has inconvenienced the people and the motorists in particular as it makes it very difficult for the people to reach their destinations. Hampankatta is at the centre of the city having several hospitals, colleges, religious places, shopping centres, government offices etc. During the festival time, it is usual for a lot of people to prefer to visit Hampankatta for shopping. The sudden order of diversion has sent the people's plans for a toss, and has frustrated them more and even the vehicles seemingly avoid entering Hampankatta as they face the risk of getting stuck in traffic.
People feel it is not the right time to divert traffic in places like Hampankatta and feel that the diversions were not planned in a scientific and systematic manner before decisions were taken.
Since the order of road diversion was issued, people are demanding for a chopper to enter Hampankatta by trolling the decision in the social media and netizens are taking the local MLA to task.
The people living in Car Street area are even more irked because of the closing of Hampankatta and also the work being undertaken at Car Street. This has made Car Street inaccessible and also people from the area find it very difficult to enter Hampankatta.
Car Street, Bunder and Hampankatta are located in the heart of the city, and entering this region, which the people are compelled to, has been made very difficult. The order was enforced on Sunday. When the people arrived for work on Monday, they were shocked to see that the roads of Hampankatta were dug and entry was restricted. This made it very hard for the people to reach their workplaces on time.
Mangaluru MLA Vedavyasa Kamath, conducted a meeting on Monday with the officials of Smart City project, police officials, Mangaluru City Corporation officials, bus owners associations etc and urged the officials not to take such drastic measures which heap miseries on the general public in the name of Smart City development work.