Even though a ban has been imposed on the movement of heavy vehicles within city limits during peak hours, trucks can be seen moving about on certain roads, causing traffic jams on congested corridors in the city.
Lorries and other heavy transport vehicles are not allowed inside the city between 8 am and 12 noon and from 4 pm to 8 pm. But too few traffic police personnel are deployed to check their entry with the result that they continue to ply along busy roads such as for Bannerghatta Road and Hosur Road.
A number of IT/ BT companies are located on Bannerghatta Road near Dairy Circle and beyond. Many marble and other stone industries are also located here and trucks ply on this stretch to deliver the material. During peak hours, Dairy Circle is heavily congested with ordinary vehicular traffic and the trucks only add to the congestion. “Huge lorries are parked on the roadside and create traffic congestion. During office hours, it is a regular affair that lorries are made to back or are halted on the road haphazardly. While efforts are being made to decongest the central business district (CBD) by penalising such lorries, on this road stretch there are no checks. The travelling time has gone up drastically," said IT company employee Ravi Gupta.
While at places close to the CBD, traffic personnel can be seen penalising heavy vehicles, on congested corridors like Hosur Road there is no such vigilance. “The bottleneck on Hosur Road is the Silk Board junction where traffic congestion is an unsolved problem. Heavy vehicles from the Outer Ring Road enter the city limits and there is chaos on the stretch that connects to places like BTM Layout, Madivala etc. Authorities should ensure that the new rule should be strictly enforced”, said NIFT student Ritika Ahuja.
Meanwhile, the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), which is against the ban on the entry of heavy vehicles, has given the State Government 15 days to lift the ban.