School bus tilt scare: Balagere-Panathur road to be widened

A day after a school bus carrying 20 children nearly toppled when its wheel got stuck in an open drain along Balagere- Panathur Main Road, East City Corporation Commissioner D.S. Ramesh inspected the stretch on Saturday and said that the stretch will be widened to 18m on priority.

Mr. Ramesh said the road widening work has been delayed due to land acquisition hurdles, but assured that the process will be completed using the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) scheme. He added that compound walls obstructing the work have already been removed at some points, and widening has already begun at the accident site.

The commissioner reviewed stormwater drains along Balagere Road, where encroachments were found to be blocking the free flow of rainwater into Varthur Lake. He instructed officials to clear the encroachments immediately and speed up desilting works in areas such as Devasandra and Pai Layout.

Letter to CM

Calling Bengaluru’s pothole-ridden roads a public health crisis and an economic burden, social worker, professor, and civic activist Kiran Jeevan has written a letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah requesting durable road governance instead of patchwork repairs that collapse with the first monsoon.

Mr. Jeevan, founder of the civic campaign ‘Namma Roads Matter,’ said that poor road conditions cause accidents and aggravate respiratory illnesses due to dust and pollution. He said that while the government recently allocated ₹1,100 crore for road upgrade, the funds must be used to build climate-smart and sustainable infrastructure.