E R RAMACHANDRAN writes: The Temple Road, an important Road connecting Yadavagiri to Jayalaksmipuram via intersecting K.R.S. Road, is on the verge of becoming a Trample Road, especially for Pedestrians. May be quite a few roads in Mysore are like this. It’s worth having a look as to what happens here everyday.
The Road is a microcosm of life, as it were. The past and future meet here at the present…. It is a mini India with Venkataramanaswamy and Shiva Temples rubbing shoulders with I-Robots from New York , Sankalpa Builders, Shubam, Loyal World Super Market, Logrosoft and UTI & Centurian Banks. The Andal Manram is close to to Pizza Hut and Dominos (Half an hour late–Free Pizza!).
Housewives, senior citizens, school children use this stretch of road everyday from morning to night, mostly by walking.
The Road was wide enough and generally peaceful with stray and regular cattle with pigs sharing the avenue with pedestrians until recently, till, the Mysore City Corporation got a brainwave to convert into a ‘double Road’, without bothering about consequences.
The stretch of this road between Mahatma Gandhi circle and Mathru Mandali circle resembles a street twisted out of its bearings in Baghdad, due to American bombing of a bazaar and after effects of a suicide car- bombing at the very same place!
Now the road has a shoddy divider, with mud work spilling both sides of the road. The footpaths (Foodpaths!) continue to be haunted by 100% profit Idli-vada-dosa-Gobi Manchurian joints, Chinese, Thailand and Mongolian Food Carts (Mobile food Courts!). Operating under the aegis of Central Roadside Tiffin Food Research Institute (CRTFRI) under the patronage of Health Dept. of MCC, they can put the renowned CFTRI to shame!
Daily lottery vendors with their ever-hopeful bakras, bent upon having their daily fix hoping to become a millionaire; Soppu, Elaneeru vendors, Buy-anything-you-want-for–Rs. 100 shop on the floor of footpath near Chescom office. It has also booksellers, Chavi repairer, god-knows-who-else…
The Road has a parking- lot for cars on one side, scooters on the other side, parking for cows on all sides in the middle of the road, pigs darting whenever they feel like! The footpath is occupied 24×7 by the above mentioned business houses and a small extension of Mysore Zoo!
It has bus shelters made for the convenience of chain snatchers, as the shelters are dark and dingy, due to which passengers wait on the Road; two Autorakshasa- Stands and car parking on one side with radial parking to ensure traffic is blocked / stopped as one takes a reverse, complete the picture.
There is a Dental clinic next to the MCC Bin, which stinks sky-high due to all kinds of waste muck thrown in. Fillings can come real dirt-cheap here for cavities!
One would like to know from the MLA, who recently put his name as one responsible for construction of the Bus stop next to post office, whether he has walked this street, of late?
Ditto for MCC Commissioner and the Traffic Police Chief….
Are Roads meant for only cars, autorickshas, scooter and motorcycles , buses, Trucks, JCBs? What about footpaths for pedestrians? Should they allow themselves to be trampled by vehicles or tremble in constant fear of being run over?
Where is a free walkable footpath on Temple Road?
Will these gentlemen walk here and show the public?
Fully agree with you Mr.ERR. This mindless road widening has to stop. Look at what they have done to Krishnaraja Boulevard? It was such a wonderful avenue to walk. Now the median has been halved and filled with asphalt. They should have allowed the wide median and let us walk. Really wonder when will these politicians understand that creating space for pedestrians (and not stealing the space existing) is important. The fear of a gradual dip in the quality of life we lead at Mysore is looming large. It’s very unfortunate to observe that MCC is becoming another BMP. I feel, the City Corporation of Panaji has better civic sense and Mysore should be emulating CCP and shun BMP’s practices.
super write up Ramachandran sir.
I was fully imagining each and every aspect u said in your writing. Let me come to them one by one……
>>> (Foodpaths!) continue to be haunted by 100% profit Idli-vada-dosa-Gobi Manchurian joints, Chinese, Thailand and Mongolian Food Carts (Mobile food Courts!).
oh this is the road, where i usually eat pani puri… just in front of post office. Very phamous.
>>> It has also booksellers, Chavi repairer, god-knows-who-else…
i had once approached this chavi man to unlock my vehicle when i had lost my key.
And even MP3 seller also!! That too for 20 rupees, one MP3 cd. I once took Dr. Rajkumar mp3 cd from there to get a change. I got almost 140 great songs of Dr. Rajkumar.
Same is the situation in devaraj urs road where they have divided the road for two wheelers and four wheelers. Dont know why the three wheelers should pass??!! They have clearly painted those wordings on the road. Per day, at least 20 people bang that road divider (saffron road divider)… And the 4 wheeleers are unable to take out their cars out of the parking lot.
This is a new initiative by our economic brained PM. His target is to develop and widen the roads well and leave less space for footpath. So that people dash against one another. And also put “chappDi kallu” like humps. At last, due to all these factors, pedestrians will feel like buying four and two wheelers …. And this will boost the automotive industry. This boost will bring huge revenue to the finance department, and this will increase our GDP.
Even in bangalore, all the roads are widened without keeping the footpaths in mind.
And the roads have been widened without providing any space around the roots of the trees. This is to ensure that any trees which survived during widening should die without any space for the water to reach its roots. This was what SG Vombathkere was once telling.
And our leaders keep on going to foreign countries to learn some things. What did they learn all these days?
I would love to see erram sir commenting on the ambi valley visit of our legislators.
Those who pride about industries and India as the emerging giant su ch as the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Minister should understand that fast-tracking India, with its teeming millions of homosapiens grwing in geometric progression with their evergrowing needs of into a road to the developed world has its downside, a very serious down side at that. Some say India will sink in its cess pool created by uncontrolled pollution and destruction of eco systems within three deacdes. The snap shot above graphically illustrates this. Mysore will within a short time go the same way as Bangalore. Other countries suffer from growth and human needs. But their population is not galloping ahead like India.
The Govt should levy road tax from Pedestrians!