I was in the thick of traffic the other day driving somewhere and the traffic hadn’t moved for a few hours. Okay, it wasn’t a few hours, but it was close to half hour. As usual, people had jammed up the road by treating the two way road like a one-way road - this meant that the on-coming traffic now had absolutely nowhere to go.

So the result was that we were stuck. And badly. And of course, no one had any clue what to do after that. The rickshaws and motorbikes got onto the pavement. That’s one thing I am happy about - that Bangalore hardly has pavements because most of the times they’re used by 2 wheelers :-)

Earlier, they had cut down all the trees in the surrounding area - if you folks have been on St. John’s Road recently - you’ll see how mercilessly they’ve chopped down everything. I saw huge bulldozers one day and tree stumps lying all around the side of the road. The next day, everything was gone. This was one beautiful road - the stately old gulmohar trees providing the much needed shade by forming a canopy over you.

What have they done now? Cut off all of them - more than 50 of them I think - to make the road the size of a football field. Did they ask anyone before they decided to take up their axe?

Unfortunately, none of the other connecting roads are so wide so we are stuck with the same congestion problem - again. And it was proof that all the tree-chopping by the tree mafia hadn’t changed a thing. We were still stuck in one position for 1/2 hour now despite them making St John’s road the size of a football field.

Wider roads within reason is fine but what is this mindless chopping without a second thought? Without any concern or approval from citizens (is this allowed? do we have any rights?!). How many more trees will they cut and how wide will they go? And what when they’ve finished cutting down everything in sight? What will they do after that? Have they figured out that one day, there won’t be anything left to cut and chop off?

We really need people who are slightly smarter and think a little when on the road too. And that is going to be a challenge, always. Can you imagine a motorist pausing and thinking, “maybe I shouldn’t go that way and block all the incoming traffic”. Road sense I am afraid, especially when in times when most needed, goes away with the wind (perhaps it was never there to begin with).

We need more traffic cops out there sorting out traffic problems. Where do these people disappear when you need them? We need more ways to get from one place to another! We need a whole new underground train system that will take off half off the motorists and vehicles off the roads.

I think we need a lot more than mindless tree-chopping and I am afraid that by the time this city finds out, it’s going to be too late. It is already too late.

It took me 2 hours to reach from Koramangala to Silk Board, a distance of about 3-4 kms.

Here’s a message from a friend, about a meeting I consider it important to attend:

There will be a meeting at Environment Support Group (ESG) at 3.30 pm tomorrow (Sat. 5th), to discuss and strategise on two very important issues concerning the city.

1)The BBMP has touted a road-widening program on 91 roads ( to be extended to 123) of Bangalore. Since the announcement of the scheme, ESG and Hasiru Usiru have been opposing the project, as it is irrational and against all basic principles of design and planning.

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Here’s Bannerghatta Road, at the Jayadeva flyover; four years ago, all the trees that had been planted on this road were cut down and the road widened, and the flyover built.

Can you see even a blade of grass in the picture?

What has the effect of the tree-felling, road-widening, and flyover-building been on traffic?

The traffic is as choked as ever, and all that has happened is that we have lost a lot of greenery and tree cover; the area has become much more polluted and noisy.

Can we stop further unnecessary felling of trees and widening of roads, which result in the same traffic congestion + lack of trees, just a few years down the line, and think of more long-term and people-friendly solutions to our traffic problems?

Here’s the poster for the Car-Free Day

Do join the initiative if you can….

The car-free week is already on and will culminate in a cycling meet on April 27th.

Crisis in Bangalore: Traffic is destroying this city

Do any of these frustrate you on a daily basis?
* Being stuck in a traffic jam for hours on end
* Seeing Bangalore being destroyed day by day
* Lack of respect for pedestrian movement
* High air pollution levels
* Huge, beautiful trees being hacked down

So far we have been waiting for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE to do SOMETHING about the crisis. Nobody is doing anything about it.

We are trying to form a city-wide group of people with skills, time and passion who are willing to do something about this crisis.
Be the change you want to see. Come and join Hasiru Usiru, and the Environment Support Group, in making Bangalore a better place to live.

Date : Sunday, April 6
Time : 3 pm.

Agenda:
We will have a talk detailing the crisis, and describe possible solutions. We’ll then have a discussion on how we can go about implementing them.

Venue: Environment Support Group
105, East End ‘B’ Main Road
Jayanagar 9th Block East
Bangalore - 560069.

Directions:

Map: http://www.esgindia.org/contact/contact.html
(From East End Circle in Jayanagar, go towards Jayadeva Hospital.
Turn left just before the Reebok showroom. ESG is on the right, behind the Reebok showroom).