Opened in February, brand new Bengaluru Cantt station road lies in tatters

Bengaluru: The brand new road in front of the Bengaluru Cantonment railway station has been dug up again due to "poor coordination" between the railways and civic agencies. 

In February, the South Western Railway (SWR) opened the new 24-metre-wide, four-lane road by demolishing the old parking lot in front of the city's oldest train station. This was part of an arrangement with the BBMP to utilise a portion of Cantonment Railway Road for the terminal's Rs 480-crore redevelopment project. 

The new road enabled smoother flow of traffic, but this proved short-lived. 

In August, the authorities dug up the right side of the road to lay underground water and power pipelines. 

The work has been taken by the railways on behalf of the BWSSB, the KPTCL and Bescom. 

In the past few weeks, the road's condition has deteriorated significantly. The junction of Cantonment Station Road and Prince of Wales Road has been completely damaged, leading to daily traffic jams and regular accidents. 

A traffic policeman deployed in the area said the work had caused congestion, while an auto driver named Govindraju said that the bad road was causing accidents. "A few days ago, a woman fell while riding a two-wheeler and injured her leg," he added. 

The junction of Cantonment Road and Prince of Wales Road has been badly damaged causing daily traffic jams. 

A local shopkeeper said: "I myself have witnessed three accidents in this section of the road. It keeps happening," he said. 

Jagath Mallikarjuna, Inspector of Works, SWR, said that the pipeline work was being done because the basement of the railway station would come up at the location of BWSSB pipelines. 

"It would've been a lengthy process had we waited for the BWSSB to do the work, so we deposited the money with them and asked them to call the tender. A similar procedure was followed for the 66kV KPTCL power line and 11kV Bescom cables," he told DH. 

The pipeline work costs Rs 3.45 crore, the KPTCL 66kV cable work Rs 1.45 crore, and the 11kV Bescom cable work Rs 2 crore, he added. 

Mallikarjuna conceded that the utility shifting should have been done by the station contractor, but said he ran into logistical problems. 

"The tender agreement did not clearly mention anything about utility shifting. As per the agreement, if the contractor did not finish the work on time, he would have had to pay a penalty. The railways also would have to pay a penalty if it does not supply the necessary funds on time. Hence, the contractor decided to do the necessary work as per the contract and did not get into utility shifting," the official explained. 

Out of the Rs 480 crore sanctioned for the station redevelopment, Rs 2.2 crore was initially spent on the roadwork. "If you add additional costs involved like building the three-metre retaining wall, the cost has gone up to Rs 3.5 to 4 crore," he added. 

Mallikarjuna estimated a loss of Rs 10 lakh in refinishing the road and assured that the road would be restored to its original condition soon. 

Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad suggested that the railways did not consult the relevant local agencies. 

"We approached them after the road was done up and they agreed to shift the water pipes and underground power cables for us. A lot of work has already been done, and the rest will be done as quickly as possible," he told DH.