A "Traffic Improvement Action Plan for 2012-13" was mailed to the Traffic Advisory Committee (sometimes referred to as 'Citizen's Traffic Forum') members, by the office of the Addl Commissioner, Traffic, a day before the meeting held on the 1st Sept. The ppt presentation may be accessed here. The same was apparently prepared in conjunction with the other "stake-holders" of the city, and, with their overall approval obtained at a meeting held on the 25th Aug, the works are expected to start soon.
Now, the presentation only provides a list of the jobs being taken up, alongwith costs, and time schedules. So, at the meeting, I raised the point about consultation with the biggest stake-holders, viz, the citizens. The Addl Commissioner went on to say that the involvement of the BBMP, an elected body, is tantamount to citizen consultation (or, something to that effect). My fear besides is that the meeting of the 1st Sept will go on record as a 'citizen consultaion' exercise, thereby co-opting all the members in the approval of the Action Plan.
My idea of citizen consultation process however is a lot different (Here is what I would consider a model process from the city of London, though petaining to a different sector). Here, I would have liked to see detailed plans of at least each of the major works, made available perhaps on the net, apart from scale models of the project areas displayed at the nearest ward office (showing clearly how things will look after the jobs are completed), at least some six months ahead of the commencement of the actual civil works. The six months period will then be utilised for getting feedback from the citizens, and making necessary changes, as may be decided thereof. The project parameters will be frozen thereafter, and the job executed within the scheduled time.
Well, at the meeting, I made the point that the details should be made available well before the commencement of the works. The Addl Commissioner looked in the direction of the BBMP and BDA representatives who seemed to nod their heads, though, I am not sure whether in approval or disapproval.
Actually, the major works being undertaken are by BBMP and BDA. So, the announcements, citizen consultations, etc should be undertaken by them, and not as much by the traffic police. But, it is only traffic police that seems to want to interact with the citizens. While appreciating the efforts of the traffic police, shouldn't the citizens begin to demand proper citizen consultation exercises by the big daddies too?, From PRAJA-RAAG side, I'll be shooting off letters to them to this effect, soon. Perhaps others will follow suit too.
Muralidhar Rao
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Traffic Improvement Action Plan for 2012-13
Here is where the problem is.
Under the guise of a "Traffic advisory commitee" or whatever else this is called,consultations will be made to appear to have happened.
and the wholescale "solutions" seem to tend towards steel and concreteand easing contractor works.
cant say if the individuakl projects are good or bad without details.
but they are massive enuf to warrant a collective citizen effort to say:"hold on" , "details please" and discuss.
but the lack of a real pan bangalore citizen outfit or inabilty for all civic groups to work together is a problem in issues like these.
vmenon
Not so fast, now
All this widening, signal free, grade seperator, elevated roads etc must WAIT.
FIRST & foremost is making sure ALL roads (yes, EACH & EVERY) in Bangalore are completely free of potholes, geometrically corrected & engineered to IRC/tendersure standards including lanes, direction boards & pedestrianization/NMT friendly. Pending projects like CNR rao underpass, Hosur road widening etc is completed. Only then will citizens entrust the city into their hands for ANY new construction.
EVEN if all these take 10 years thats all these civic agencies should be allowed to do else we will have to take to the streets & stop these flights of fancy. If traffic increases in the meanwhile. Tough luck put a complete ban on new registrations until the street designs are fixed.
THEN, if they ever get to building these new things, detailed design of every project with scale models must be made available to the public viewing & published in all newspapers & feedback answered before it can be taken up.
Bangalore roads look like a mud track from a sub saharan African country with tinpot leadership. Actually this comparision is an insult to the sub saharan African country. SHAME ON BBMP. All engineers & corporators deserve to be riding donkeys with blackened faces on these roads with our trash hung across their necks like a garland
Signal Free Corridors is for calling more vehicles to the road
All these signal free corridors is like attracting more vehicles to the road adding more stress. At the same time, Pedestrains have to struggle a lot with widened roads. Take for instance ORR between Silkboard to Marathalli, people have to cross the road holding breath in their hands.
Also, let all the Metro / LRT / Commuter Rail projects finish off. These constructions will obstruct these projects, especially Metro Phase 2 and LRT/Monorail.
Special mention of situations below the flyover is needed
Consider any old or new flyover, the worse affected part is the below the flyover.
Be it pedestrian or motorist, everyone is very much negatively affected by the flyover going above.
Domlur flyover, iblur flyover, agara flyover, any other flyover, They just made 3 lanes one side traffic roads on the flyover, but what about people walking, moving, driving, or crossing the roads below the flyover?
Deepak
petition draft
I am shooting off separate letters to the Commissioners of BBMP and BDA, Mayor, CM, Chief Secretary, as below, with copies to the Addl Commr, Traffic.
A ppt presentation on "Traffic Improvement Action Plan for 2012-13" (accessible here) was mailed to the Traffic Advisory Committee (sometimes referred to as 'Citizen's Traffic Forum') members, by the office of the Addl Commissioner, Traffic, a day before the meeting held on the 1st Sept. The same was apparently prepared in conjunction with the other "stake-holders" of the city, and, with their overall approval obtained at a meeting held on the 25th Aug, the works are expected to start soon.
Now, Sir, we wish to submit that this is the first time that the plan is being placed before the biggest stake-holders in any city, viz the citizens, and that too by the city Traffic Police, who themselves appear to have very little say, if at all, in the planning process. The onus of planning is on the elected body, which is the BBMP, or its nominees, the BDA and BMRDA, and would generally have expected the proposals to come from one, or all of them. This is particularly so considering the financial outlays on their plans far outweigh those of the traffic police.
The above apart, what has been presented, even at this stage, is only a list of the jobs being taken up, along-with costs, and time schedules. As compared to that, one would have expected to see detailed plans of at least each of the major works, made available perhaps on the net, apart from scale models of the project areas displayed at the nearest ward office (showing clearly how things will look after the jobs are completed). And, that should have happened at least some six months before the commencement of the actual civil works, and not when all decisions have already been made, and the jobs are set to commence any day now. The six months period should then be utilised for getting feedback from the citizens, and making necessary changes, as may be decided thereof, after which the project parameters should be frozen thereafter, and the job completed on schedule.
For your ready reference, accessible here is what one would consider a model citizen consultation process from the city of London, though petaining to a different sector.
In view of all of the above, Sir, we request you to keep the execution of at least the major works on hold, till such time as a process as stated above is gone through. Should you need any help in the consultation exercise, we shall be glad to offer the same.
If anyone has any comments, let me know by tomorrow.
Additional Prayer!
Murali,
The petition seems to center around public consultation, which is very vital. But I would like to suggest we add another prayer for first concentrating on fixing Potholes, changes to Jns, Ped/Bicyle Markings, etc as suggested by IDS before taking up any new plans/jobs.
-Syed
The proposals look very nice
The proposals look very nice in paper - but I'm sure most of them will never see the light of day. Also, as pointed out there are no details - and as is well known `god is in the details' - though in the case of BBMP - the devil is in the details. Several of the projects are unnecessary - for example the grade separator at CV Raman ( Maramma ) circle ( Its amazing how a circle named after a distiguished scientist seems to be officially known by a piece of rock that lies on its side and which causes a great amount of grief every Friday. ) This will be another multi year project like the CNR Rao circle boondoggle and will just result in the massacre of 100s of trees.
There is another road which is crying to be developed and will greatly decongest traffic. This is the Pipeline road joining Chord road to ORR. It is a beautiful road divided by a park covering the pipeline from TG. Halli to Malleswaram. Unfortunately - the road ends abruptly about 200mts from the ORR. If it is developed well - as a divided road with one way traffic on both sides and liked to ORR it will save 2-3 km of driving from Malleswaram to Mysore road, for example.
In fact, more than building grade separtors a lot of thinking has to be put in to traffic management. There are several of these pipeline divided roads in the city which would be really smooth if they had each side one way. But they are often disastrous and congested because of the allergy to One ways that this city seems to have. The only solution for much of the traffic congestion is making roads one way judiciously.
Didn't see mention of road from IRR to ORR near ejipura junction
I didn't see mention of road connecting from Ejipura junction, IRR to the Belandur ORR, so as to decongest the sony world junction traffic and other traffic from koramangala and ST Bed streets, the traffic going to ORR from the IRR.
This was in BDA's 2015 master plan, not sure how and when they are going to start that?
Deepak
Not acceptable
Murali please include the following... NO projects which involve any type of grade seperation of motor vehicles either at junctions or otherwise should be taken up till they show the requisite design changes on the current surface streets & make them completely(100%) IRC compliant including channelization & appropriate markings with uninterrupted pedestrian/NMT facilities. We should NOT be accetable to anything less.
endorsement from Maj Promod Kapur
Maj Promod Kapur, a highly respected voice amongst RWA and Civil Society circles, as well as a member of the TAC (he couldn't attend the 1st Sept meet), spoke to me, and later mailed the following in the 'savekoramangala' Y-group (had some temporary problems because of which he couldn't make the post on PRAJA himself)
Hi Murali,
Your letter is comprehensive and I fully endorse that each of the projects needs a detailed public consultation process. Traffic Police fora is not the appropriate one for engaging with citizens on engineering projects, nor is it the designated nodal body that coordinates and takes decisions. While it is imperative that Traffic Police being one among the principal stakeholders should be a part of the consultative body, but it can not be recognized as the nodal body. And we may do well to send a suitable communication to Mr. Salim on our objections and not to construe our attendance as a sign of acceptance of the PPT.
Secondly, BBMP may have elected reps but that does not mean that the consultative process can be short circuited. 74th amendment has to be invoked which will ensure that local citizens and local bodies are fully engaged in being part of decision making.
Third, some of the comments made by various members only highlight the necessity of detailed public discourse and consultation. Individual objections articulated only show one thing that there has to be wider consultation with public. No one knows the difficulties or suffers the pangs of an ill conceived project more than the local ones who face the brunt at the ground level when the project is undertaken and completed.
As an invitee to these meetings, I will also shoot off a similar letter to the Addl Commr. Police (Traffic), but I would suggest that we immediately call an urgent meeting of some of the other participants so that we can jointly address the letters to CM, Minister for Bangalore, Principal Secy UDD, Chief Secretary, Commissioners BDA and BBMP and Chairman of BMRDA.
We should involve CAF and other RWAs/NGOs at pan Bangalore level and organize a campaign for more transparency and public consultation process.
Could you please arrange? Please let me kn ow when we can meet.
And, that's all I have been waiting for. I am shooting off the letters right away.
Despite the evidence...
With incomes ticking up, India’s cities are now experiencing the automobile revolution the U.S. went through 60 years ago. And they may be repeating the same transit fallacies...
His work supports findings elsewhere that adding lanes does little to reduce traffic. Some streets scheduled for widening, Verma says, were expanded just five years before. "That means there’s something wrong with the planning," he tells me.
Despite the evidence, the city is sticking to its strategy... For those opposed to widening, the concern is whittling street life down to a single concept: India drives. At stake for some is the very definition of the city
Source
letter mailed to CM
Following letter mailed out; will follow the up with hard copies:
Sri Jagadish Shettar
Honourable Chief Minister, Govt of Karnataka,
Bangalore
Dear Sir
Sub: citizen participation in development planning
Perhaps, for the first time in the history of Bangalore, Dr Saleem, IPS, the Addl Commissioner, Traffic, has, through the Traffic Advisory Committee (at times, referred to as 'Citizen's Traffic Forum'), attempted to provide a city-wide citizen engagement platform, constituting of all the major 'stake-holders', on traffic issues, and thereby, city development issues. We certainly salute him for the effort (the undersigned is an invitee to the Committee).
However, Sir, a day before the latest meeting held on the1st Sept, a ppt presentation on "Traffic Improvement Action Plan for 2012-13" (accessible here) was mailed out to the members, by Dr Saleem's PA, which apparently was prepared in conjunction with the other stake-holders of the city. And, at the meeting, we were told that, with the overall approval of the stake-holders obtained at a meeting held on the 25th Aug, the works were expected to commence soon.
Now, Sir, we wish to submit that this was the first time that the plan was placed before the biggest stake-holders of all, in any city, viz the citizens, and that too by the city Traffic Police, who themselves appear to have very little say, if at all, in the planning process. The onus of planning is generally on the elected body, which is the BBMP, or its nominees, the BDA and BMRDA, and one would have expected the proposals to come from one, or all of them. This is particularly so considering the financial outlays on their plans far outweighing those of the traffic police.
Besides, some of the projects envisaged are huge, having serious long-term impact. One would have expected decisions on these to evolve out of the CDP-2035 consultation process, which has been set in motion by the BDA, and towards which the city Civil Society has made its submissions (check here). As such, executing these massive projects, even as the consultation process has just about begun, we believe, is not quite in keeping with the spirit of city governance, as envisaged under the 74th amendment.
The above apart, what was presented, even at this stage, was only a list of the jobs being taken up, along-with costs, and time schedules. As compared to that, one would have expected to see detailed plans of at least each of the major works, made available, perhaps on the net, apart from scale models of the project areas, displayed at the nearest ward office (showing clearly how things will look after the jobs are completed). And, that should have happened at least some six months before the commencement of the actual civil works. The six months period should then be utilised for getting feedback from the citizens, and making necessary changes as may be decided thereof, after which the project parameters can be frozen, and the job completed on schedule.
For your ready reference, accessible here is what one would consider a model citizen consultation process, from the city of London, though pertaining to a different sector.
In view of all of the above, Sir, we request you to keep the execution of at least the major works on hold, till such time as a process as stated above is gone through.
Should you need any help in the consultation exercise, we shall be glad to offer the same.
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
for RAAG,
sd/-
Muralidhar Rao
(President)
cc:
1) Honourable Mayor, BBMP
2) Chief Secretary, GoK
3) Commissioner, BBMP
4) Chairman, BDA
5) Commissioner, BDA
6) Addl Commr, Traffic
Additional submissions made to the TAC
The following are the additional submissions made by me to the TAC:
1) This is the point I was trying to make at the 1st Sept TAC meet in the matter of stake-holder (read citizen) consultation. Those who wish to comment are welcome to do so on PRAJA.
2) The PPP model, for the 100 odd sky-walks that are supposed to come up across the city, according to me, is not a sustainable one, for reasons given here. I would instead suggest the Mumbai type sky-walks, particularly for fly-over junctions like Domlur-IRR, Silk-board, Hebbal, Jayadeva, etc. This seems to have received wide support from bus users, as seen here.
3) With a professional consortium entrusted with the designs and specs of the Tender-Sure jobs, besides their being comparatively small in scope, I suppose, the works pertaining to them can commence. However, even here, one would have liked to see the details made available to the citizens, well in advance.
4) If I understand correctly, even the existing Multi-level Car Parking lots are not operating satisfactorily, apart from poor design aspects pertaining to most of them. Some like the one at Garuda Mall has ended up as a captive one for the mall. As such, there needs to be serious re-think in the matter before proceeding with the civil works.
The above apart, I expect the members will find the discussions on the thread on the subject interesting too. Please feel welcome to add your comments.
response from CM's office
Accessible here is the response from CM's office to my representation (check above for my post of 7th Sept), essentially saying that the BBMP has been directed to involve citizens in decision making processes.
Well - -
Sweet... so... *twiddling
Sweet... so... *twiddling thumbs*
ok, now to get that CM/68477/REP-GEN/2012 so we know what they have instructed & what BBMP is going to do about it
covers the Ejipura - Agara road?
Also, they met Union Defence Minister A K Antony seeking defence land in Bangalore for road widening. “Antony asked us to send a letter from the Chief Minister, stressing that the state government would give alternative land for the Defence,” he said.
For the full report in the New Indian Express, click here.
I wonder if this covers the Ejipura - Agara road marked in the CDP-2015 (check the post by dvsquare on 5th Sept, 12, above).