Bellandur residents step up to make roads walker friendly

BENGALURU: Prompted by the death of a security guard who was trying to cross Outer Ring Road (ORR) last November, some 29

resident welfare associations

under the

Bellandur Jothege banner

have come together to conceptualise and participate in the city’s first community-sourced pedestrianisation programme,

Bellandur Walks

.


Decongesting traffic, developing better footpaths, enabling last-mile connectivity and adding skywalks and pelican signals are some of the focal points of the programme.

An open map of the concept was pitched before the mayor earlier this year. Now, the project will be placed before the BBMP council after estimates for the pilot are submitted by the engineers in charge. In the first phase, a five-kilometre stretch will be undertaken by the BBMP and Bellandur Jothege to encourage people to walk to work instead of using cars.

Kishori Mudaliar, who conceptualised the pedestrianisation programme, said it was the brainchild of Bellandur citizens. “Road infrastructure is a joke in the city and there are no facilities for pedestrians.

In the first phase, we are targeting the cluster of three business parks — RMZ Cluster, Prestige Ferns Galaxy and Salarpuria Sattva — each of which has approximately 60,000 employees. The triangular loop will also get bicycle stands, better, continuous footpaths, cycle lanes and other features,” said Kishori.

Tying up with Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA), the project will receive CSR funding for its awareness campaigns and setting up cycle stands. “The corporator has promised to have the loop cordoned off for our event, Raahagiri, on Saturdays and Sundays. The roads will be vehicle-free on such weekends,” said Kishori.

Mayor R Sampath Raj said though there are no funds allocated specifically for pedestrianising roads, the money will be drawn from requisite heads once the estimate for the pilot is approved. “The BBMP is for the people and is always ready to collaborate with citizens who want to improve civic amenities in the city,” he said.

Following the pilot, the plan is to expand the programme to an estimated 24km for it to get community-mapped footpaths. One of Bellandur Jothege’s younger activists, Aadiv Reki, 13, contributed to the community effort by creating an artist’s impression of the proposed model footpaths.