Way of hope for Whitefield

What do you do when stuck in traffic jam? The first reaction would be to look out for alternate routes. But if you are stuck in Whitefield, you are denied even that little mercy, for there are no alternate roads in the area.

In fact, lack of a robust road network has been diagnosed as one of the chief causes of routine traffic snarls in the area. Satellite images of Whitefield procured by World Resources Institute (WRI) clearly stands testimony to this.

The study of satellite images has also shown that many good roads that may add robustness to the grid are within tech parks and not open to the public. None of the tech parks provide thoroughfares through their campuses.

Following suggestion made by WRI to open up these private roads to public access, the government has decided to formulate guidelines to ask tech parks to open up their campuses.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem said that roads within the tech parks will be a great value addition to the road grid in Whitefield. “Presently there are only two access points to Whitefield. If the tech parks are punctured, other areas will be linked and will create multiple entry-exit points,” he said.

A senior town planning official said that it is a prerequisite that large property owners make room for a thoroughfare through their property. “No road is recognised as private. Even natural walkways have to be recognised. Town Planning Act doesn’t even recognise gated communities for the same reason,” he said.

However, during allotment of these large tracts of land, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) has not laid down such guidelines, sources said. Sources confirmed that the Urban Development Department is presently working on the guidelines, which will be notified after consultations with the tech parks and other tech firms in the area.

Rejeet Mathews, an urban planner with WRI who carried out the study, said that the tech firms should effect a paradigm shift in security to lobby level or building level from gate level. “It is also in the interest of these tech parks that they improve the road grid in the area and fix the traffic mess,” she added.