Old Madras Road unmotorable at Ulsoor

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, OCT. 17. The Old Madras Road, an important link to the City's eastern suburbs and National Highway 4, badly needs repairs on several stretches closer to the City. This road has considerable heavy vehicle traffic, besides buses going to the pilgirm centre of Tirupati.

One of the worst spots is where the road begins, at Ulsoor. Around the Philips Software facility, portions of the road have practically caved in after the recent heavy rains. The corrugated surface cannot be used by cars or two-wheelers and during rush hour, the traffic police have a tough time regulating the vehicles which are forced to swerve to the wrong side. Two- wheeler riders have started avoiding this stretch and prefer a longer route.

Old Madras Road, which is still the shortest route to Chennai, passes through Indiranagar, Byappanahalli, Krishnarajapuram, and Hoskote before proceeding to Kolar where it branches, one way to KGF and another to Mulbagal and further to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. At K.R.Puram, it branches to Kadugodi and Whitefield, now busy industrial areas, where thousands from the city work. While many industries have their own staff buses, hundreds of IT professionals, who work in ITPL near Whitefield, prefer to use their own vehicles because of their flexible working hours. The difficult driving conditions make their working days longer.

Road users have another difficult stretch to navigate around K.R.Puram where the cable-stayed railway bridge is coming up. To the west of the existing bridge, the road narrows as it approaches the new ring road. The traffic congestion is expected to ease to some extent after the new Benniganahalli flyover is completed and the cable-stayed bridge is opened to traffic. Until then, road users have to take deviations along the narrow temporary bypasses.

Jurisdictional problems have made matters worse and delayed timely repairs to Old Madras Road. As far as policing goes, the Bangalore Traffic Police have authority up to K.R.Puram. The road on this stretch comes under the limits of different police stations, Ulsoor, Indiranagar, and K.R.Puram. Beyond it, the Bangalore District Police have jurisdiction till the road enters Kolar District.

The road itself is partly maintained by the PWD and partly by the National Highways Authority of India. The former appears to have neglected its role when it comes to keeping the

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