If the traffic near Silk Board in Bengaluru is a daily struggle for commuters, the bottleneck at KR Puram on Saturday morning was a living nightmare. At around 6 am on Saturday, a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus broke down near the Tin Factory bus stop in KR Puram resulting in a traffic pile up that lasted for over 3 hours.
The situation, however, did not ease as the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) had also begun digging up the road near the bus stop. This ensured that the vehicles could not move until the bus was out of the way.
Angry commuters took to Twitter and requested the traffic police to help clear the bottleneck. However, the dug-up roads have resulted in slow moving traffic since 6 am.
BESCOM work is going on near Tin factory bus stop...so slow moving traffic...we have instructed them to complete the work soon and we have deputed sufficient officer staff for the regulation of traffic https://t.co/y1tLScfZX0
— K R PURAM TRAFFIC BTP (@krpuramtrfps) November 3, 2018
@blrcitytraffic Tin factory exact below Foot over bridge BMTC bus(ka 57f0459) break down causing chios.Lot traffic congestion.All travel Buses jammed.please take immediate action to clear traffic.
— murali j krishna (@Muralijkrishna) November 3, 2018
@blrcitytraffic Bus breakdown near Tin Factory bus station causing huge pile up. Please look.
— Vineet (@vineet_roy_twi) November 3, 2018
@krpuramtrfps sir before 4 months you were able to handle traffic jam by the BMTC and all buses near KR PURAM Market,now again they have strd stopping all over and causing serious traffic issue
— kiranbhadran (@kiranbhadran) November 3, 2018
The Bengaluru Police later rushed to the spot and helped tow the bus away.
“It took over three hours to clear the traffic. Also, another problem is that both sides of the main road have been dug up. The Bescom has dug up one side of the road and a gas pipeline work is being carried out near the MM Temple. Besides, 20-wheeled vehicles, trucks and buses have to pass through the road and the traffic jam is still there,” said an officer with the KR Puram Traffic Police Station.
On Monday, traffic was diverted from both directions on the ITPL Main Road in Bengaluru’s Whitefield after a GAIL gas pipeline reported a leak. Traffic officials said the leak was spotted at around 6 am on Monday by locals in Garudacharpalya near the Decathlon outlet. After being alerted, GAIL officials asked the Traffic Police to divert vehicular movement in the stretch as a precautionary measure.
This is the second such incident in a week when GAIL authorities have filed a complaint with the police against the BMRCL contractor for damaging the pipeline. GAIL had approached Mahadevpura Police station on October 24 after another leak was reported in Whitefield at Sathya Sai Hospital.