Private vehicles pile up on the outskirts as ban enters 3rd day

Bringing forth a contrasting picture, the wide Ballari Road that connects Kempegowda International Airport and City wore a rather deserted look, while aircraft hovered back-to-back on the sky above, on Wednesday.

With the State government enforcing a ban on private buses and goods vehicles in an attempt decongest City roads for the delegates of Invest Karnataka-2016, the entire stretch leading to the Central Business District (CBD) took even the usual road-users by surprise. The journey towards Devanahalli from the City, which usually took around an hour, could be completed in less than half an hour. The entry of goods vehicles and private buses into the City was completely stopped even beyond Devanahalli from 7 am to 10 pm.

A staffer of the Transport department, who was deployed for work near Byatarayanapura, said that only the vehicles carrying essential commodities such as milk and vegetables were allowed to enter the City. “We stopped about 400 private buses and around 1,000 goods vehicles. A total of 10 additional BMTC buses were deployed to carry passengers from private buses. We have made space for parking of the vehicles and provided toilet facility for passengers as well as a canteen here,” he said.

However, the banned vehicles attempted to enter the City taking alternative roads leading to congestion on such routes.

It was not the same with heavy goods vehicles. Hundreds of such vehicles, which could not reach the City before dawn were parked all along Tumakuru-Nice Road at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, particularly near Madavara.

On the roadside
H Manjunath, who drove the lorry all the way from Davangere was among the hundreds of drivers who spent the entire day roadside.

“I reached Madavara junction around 6 am. The police stopped me from taking the City road, citing ban on the entry of goods vehicles. I have to wait till 11 pm,” he said.

M Chandrashekar, a traffic policeman, said that there would be heavy rush once the private vehicles were allowed to enter the City during night.

Passengers and drivers of private vehicles were put into trouble on account of the ban. Vijay Kumar, conductor of a private vehicle that operates between Attibele and Banashankari said that he had been sitting idle from past three days.

Rajamma, who works for a garment factory in Bommasandra said that she usually chose private buses over BMTC buses in as they were cheaper.

“With the ban, I have to shell an additional amount of Rs 10 to reach Kalasipalyam by BMTC bus,” she said. Narendra Holkar, Joint Commissioner of Transport Department said cases were booked against 58 buses for entering the City despite the ban.