Bengaluru: Varthur-Gunjur congestion leaves schoolchildren stranded for hours
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While roads in these areas are generally congested due to limited road density and connectivity, travel time increased sharply on Thursday, which Bengaluru Traffic Police sources attributed to ongoing infrastructure works in the area. | Photo Credit: File photo
Routine traffic congestion in the Varthur, Gunjur and Balagere areas of east Bengaluru escalated on Thursday, leaving schoolchildren reportedly stuck in buses for over two hours even on routes as short as 5 km.
Children caught in traffic on these stretches struggled to cope with heavy dust and prolonged travel. While roads in these areas are generally congested due to limited road density and connectivity, travel time increased sharply on Thursday, which Bengaluru Traffic Police sources attributed to ongoing infrastructure works in the area.
Parents residing in a private apartment complex in Gunjur calculated the time-distance ratio from four schools to their apartment complex on Thursday. The exercise revealed that children were stuck in traffic for over two hours despite having to cover an average distance of only 6 km.
Pavitra Holla, a resident of Gunjur, said parents were worried as school buses were delayed by nearly two hours and, by the time the children reached home, they were exhausted. “The whole area feels like a whirlpool of mud rather than a residential locality. The kids had to sit in dust, hungry and tired,” she said.
Ramya, another resident, said that for the past week, the situation had remained the same, with travel time for schoolchildren returning home increasing to almost twice the normal duration. However, on Thursday, the worsening situation led to panic among parents, who flooded civic authorities, traffic police and schools with calls.
“The road infrastructure is miserable in the area, which could even affect the health and academic performance of children. With children being stuck for hours, they come home tired and covered in dust. Their entire schedule has changed because of poor road infrastructure,” she said. “Despite having some of the top private educational institutions in the locality, the connectivity remains subpar,” she added.
A senior traffic officer acknowledged the issue and said civic works on State Highway 35 (Varthur-Sarjapur Road), coupled with white-topping works on Gunjur Club Road, had led to a massive diversion of traffic onto smaller roads in the area.
“With vehicles using smaller routes, and school buses also accessing the same roads, congestion has increased significantly. The roads in these neighbourhoods are already narrow, and even a small increase in vehicle volume can lead to severe traffic snarls,” the officer said. “The rain on Tuesday and Wednesday made the situation worse,” he added.
The officer said there were very few alternative routes and, therefore, even heavy vehicles had been barred from using roads in the area after 2 p.m. Despite the traffic curbs, congestion persisted, he said.
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