Bengaluru: Dreaded times have arrived for those commuting through Whitefield’s tech hub: The road between Hoodi and ITPB (Information Technology Park-Bengaluru) has been dug up.
The nearly 2km stretch, which was asphalted in 2023, has been torn apart by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) to lay power lines. The results are obvious: Endless traffic snarls, choking dust, and frustrated commuters. But what’s caused a stir is the increasing demand from techies for work from home (WFH) until the chaos ends, which is unlikely till the next elections!
The big question playing in the minds of the motorists is: Why don’t govt agencies talk with each other before starting work, as the freshly laid road is being dug up, causing more chaos on a key road to major IT and tech parks. KPTCL, which has set up its new power station at Hagadur, is drawing its power lines from various other stations and one such line runs between Hoodi and ITPB (formerly ITPL).
Pradeep Nair, an IT employee from Shantiniketan, told TOI: “The planning of this project is not proper. The road was dug up from both sides. Technically, these works should be taken up during nights so that there is no traffic problem. But no. All the work is done during the daytime, and during peak hours too. One thing I don’t understand is where the communication between departments is. Now it has led to digging up a good road.”
Though traffic police have tried to make some changes, including sealing the U-turn in front of Nexus Shantiniketan Mall, the narrow carriageway has left motorists jostling for space. What used to take around 15-20 minutes to cover is now taking much longer, testing the patience of motorists. In fact, the road was jampacked on Monday. Nair added: “As the work is currently happening right in front of our complex, we decided to work from home for two days so that we can escape all the traffic hustle.”
Devi Mudunuri, an HR executive who stays at Vaswani Exquisite Apartments, said: “The traffic situation in the area has worsened after the digging. From IT company employees to schoolchildren, everyone is affected. School buses get stuck in the traffic and vehicles have to take longer U-turns because there are cables. It takes a lot of time to reach schools and offices. One more concern is that now we see them just patching up the cut road with some jelly stones, but will the road be laid again?”
Another commuter said, “There are so many regular commuters who don’t have WFH. Commuting is a pain for them. For the last one week, this stretch has been seeing crawling traffic even during non-peak hours and digging and cover-up happen during daytime.”
A KPTCL official explained, “We are having our new station at Hagadur to meet increasing power supply demands. We will patch up the road. However, we have paid money to BBMP to asphalt the entire road again right after we are done with our work. They will be responsible for laying fresh asphalt for the complete stretch.”
(With inputs from Ishita Bannerjee)