How Bengaluru’s Dr Rajkumar Road has turned death trap with white-topping prep work

Bengaluru: The number of accidents has surged on Dr Rajkumar Road in Rajajinagar area over the past two months after BBMP and BWSSB began preparatory work for white-topping, a project to improve road quality, but now drawing criticism for its unscientific execution.With a large section of the road dug up and its width drastically reduced, residents and motorists say the area has become a death trap. On Wednesday evening, a 70-year-old man lost his life after falling on the uneven surface and coming under the wheels of a KSRTC bus. Just days earlier, a 28-year-old tech worker suffered critical injuries after his scooter hit a pipe left carelessly by the roadside. About a dozen motorists and residents have fallen on the road, suffering injuries.

A senior traffic police officer said: “Neither BBMP nor BWSSB consulted us before starting the work. When the work started, we questioned them as the traffic flow was seriously affected. In reply, we received calls from bureaucrats, small-time politicians, and others asking why the police were playing spoilsport in building brand Bengaluru. We are not against brand Bengaluru, but unscientific works cause severe issues.

Already, many motorists fall, while avoiding the pipes laid on the roadside. One such attempt ended in a fatal accident Wednesday.”Around 4.30pm Wednesday, Hanumanta Rayappa, 70, lost balance while negotiating the dug-up road and came under the wheels of a KSRTC bus. He succumbed to his injuries in a hospital later. On June 4, BG Manjunath, 28, a private company employee from JP Nagar, fell while riding on Dr Rajkumar Road as his scooter ran over the pipes, left negligently by the roadside.

His father, BG Ganesh, a businessman, filed a complaint with traffic police, holding BBMP, BWSSB officials and the contractor responsible for the accident. “Since the day of the accident, my son is in the ICU of a private hospital, and we are spending around Rs 1.5 lakh per day on his treatment.

I inspected the accident spot and was shocked to see the govt agencies never bothered to install barricades or take minimum precautionary steps,” he said.Based on Ganesh’s complaint, police registered a criminal case against unidentified officials from BBMP, BWSSB, and the contractor. “We will issue notices to suspects. We found the contractor is from Mangaluru,” a senior police officer said. BBMP officials maintained they have instructed the contractor to expedite work.