The Hindu : It's a Berlin Wall for Narayanapura

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 22, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

It's a Berlin Wall for Narayanapura

By Govind D.Belgaumkar

The closure of this level-crossing near K.R.Puram Railway Station is causing hardship to the people in the area. - Photo: K.Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE Feb. 19. How do you make a man travel eight km. to reach a place that is just 100 feet away? Ask anyone in K.R.Puram, and the reply will be "by constructing a bridge."

The beautiful bridge, hailed as latest attraction in the City and a technological marvel, has put to inconvenience a few thousand households in B.Narayanapura, A.Narayanapura, and adjoining areas located on one side of the Old Madras Road.

Although pedestrians can cross the road to K.R.Puram, the vehicle-users of these areas cannot. They have to drive two km. and take a u-turn, drive on the bridge, and travel about 4 km. take another U-turn at the other end of the bridge and reach the K.R.Puam Railway Station after driving another two km.

The residents agree that the traffic congestion on the road near the K.R.Puram station is a thing of the past. But the cable-stayed bridge has created new problems for them.

Lakshminarasimhan, a resident of the area, said that a few days ago he took his parents to Bangalore Cantonment station to make them board a train to his native place.

"The K.R.Puram railway station for me is farther than the Cantonment station," he says.

Before the new bridge was thrown open to traffic, the people of the area could cross the road through a manned level-crossing. But the level-crossing has been closed after the cable-stayed bridge was thrown open to traffic by the Prime Minister, A.B.Vajpayee, on February 13.

But the closure of the level-crossing has not deterred some ingenuous residents, who cross the railway gate even with their two-wheelers. "Many trains do not stop at K.R.Puram station and travel at a high speed. It is so risky,'' said Ramoji, an engineer with the ITI. Many of his colleagues expressed their anger against the railway authorities for being insensitive to their problems. Some pointed out that pushcart vegetable vendors, who used to come to their area from K.R.Puram side, are no longer frequenting these localities. As a result, even the vegetable prices have gone up considerably.

The ITI employees and the residents of Narayanpura have submitted a memorandum to the railway authorities to open the level-crossing. They pointed out that the pedestrians were prohibited from using the existing foot-over bridge of the K.R.Puram Railway Station, without platform tickets.

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