Traffic cops slow down TenderSURE

Bengaluru: Although TenderSURE project ties all government agencies including the police department in a string, the first phase of the multi-crore project has run into problems. After some crooks made away with electric steel poles on Cunningham Road last week, the city traffic police have instructed BBMP to ‘slow down’.

According to BBMP sources, the civic agency was supposed to start parallel work on Residency Road and Richmond Road, the core roads of the high quality road network. However, the traffic police have said that if work was taken up on these roads simultaneously, it would affect traffic flow adversely in the CBD.

Hence, it has allowed BBMP and Jana Urban Space Foundation, the project designers, to take up road work in a phased manner and that too only on a particular stretch.

An engineer said, “As per the schedule, parallel work should have started on Residency and Richmond Roads. Since we did not get the police nod for the plan, about three months ago, we started partial work on Residency Road. According to the plan, we should have started work from Richmond Road to Cash Pharmacy, Cash Pharmacy to Ashirvadam Circle. Now, work is going only on one side of Residency Road.”

Apart from issuing instructions to only take up work on some stretches, the traffic cops have also requested BBMP to work on one side of the road.

“Since the footfalls and traffic flow are high, we get permission to work only on one side of the road. The same procedure was followed even on Cunningham Road. But our concern is, work has already been delayed and we have to finish work on Residency Road before taking up Richmond Road. The project will be further delayed,” he said.

The engineer said that work may not start before January on Richmond Road. The total project cost of these two roads is Rs 145 crore.