BENGALURU: Traders and vendors on the MG Road and adjoining areas are anxious about their future, following the closure of Kamaraj Road for metro rail construction.
Shopkeepers on the Church Street and Brigade Road are worried that the resulting chaos may not force the authotiries to impose any parking restrictions, as it will badly affect their business.
A senior traffic police officer said, “We have been studying the traffic density from Monday and are waiting for the weekend traffic. Will assess if the traffic density can be accommodated across the Brigade road and Church Street.
There is an increase in the volume of the traffic after the Kamaraj Road was closed for Metro construction. We will take a decision next week, whether to impose parking restriction or not on Brigade Road.”
Vendors and shopkeepers fear that a parking restriction will lead to a drop in customers. Shoaib Mansoor, an executive at apparel store in Brigade road said, “For now, we are just hoping that there is no parking restriction on Brigade Road. We have already been affected by the parking restriction on M.G. Road. These restrictions will last till the metro work on Kamaraj Road is over and it will take years, we cannot sustain that long. The traffic police department should think of alternatives before they even think of banning parking on Brigade Road.”
Shankar Prasad, who works at a pub on Church Street, said the business was already affected due to the Tender Sure work on Church Street and now if this metro work also affects us, then we better shut down.
A portion of the Kamaraj Road, located between Cubbon Road and MG Road will remain closed as the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) will begin excavating the 200-metre-long road to build an underground station.
The project is expected to be completed in four years. Vehicles coming from Cubbon Road will not be able to take a right turn towards Cauvery Arts and Craft Junction on M.G. Road. For those travelling from Mayo Hall towards Cauvery Emporium on MG Road, there will be no right turn to Kamaraj Road.
