Bangalore Sweatbox

When it came time to inauguate a new roadway, workers dug up part of the just-completed road for a "pandal," which I'm guessing is a sort of VIP platform (see last paragraph).

K'mangala-Indiranagar stretch opens today
Deccan Herald


What was scheduled to happen in 2004, will finally happen today. Road users will finally let out a collective sigh of relief when the long-pending Koramangala-Indiranagar stretch will be inaugurated on Wednesday.

However, the Bangalore Development Authority's Airport Road flyover project, that began in February 2003, is far from over. Only the main flyover, at the intersection of Airport Road and Inner Ring Road junction will be inaugurated. The four loops around the flyover still remain incomplete.

BDA plans to inaugurate one loop a month, which will perhaps drag the final completion to September.

The flyover will be inaugurated by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday morning at 9.30 am. Those heading to work via Airport Road may be in for slow moving traffic, as the event timing would coincide with peak hour traffic. Vehicular movement will be allowed on the two-way flyover from 11 am onwards.

Will the newly constructed flyover bear signs of 'destruction' on the inaugural day? Some motorists complained on Tuesday that the flyover was dug up on the middle of the newly-laid road to build the pandal for the event. According to Salil Shankar, who works in Indiranagar, "the road was spoilt even before it was inaugurated". Fuming against the organisers, the BDA, Shankar said, "Who is going to finally pay for the repairs? The taxpayer, of course. Is this the level of responsibility the builders have towards their own project?".