BANGALORE: Indiranagar and it’s surrounding areas have rapidly grown to become some of the most sought after localities in the city.The civic bodies in the areas however have struggled to keep up.Indiranagar faces two major problems today — garbage and parking space for its residents and visitors.Adjoining Indiranagar is Cambridge Layout which also shares these problems with its neighbour.One issue which has been hounding residents of the Layout for many years now is that of illegally parked vehicles near Sai Baba Temple.Sai Baba has a sizable following in Bangalore and the temple in Cambridge Layout sees a huge number of devotees who flock the place on Thursdays to pay their respect.This creates a major traffic problem as the road does not have enough parking space.To make matters worse, it is also not wide enough to accommodate parking on either sides and as a result the area witnesses a traffic jam.However, this does not deter the visitors as they casually park their vehicles on either sides of the road.“They come for praying and don’t even care about the problems that they cause for others,” said Devendra, a regular commuter who avoids taking this road specially on Thursdays.“Somebody should be bothered about the problems that are being caused, why can’t the traffic police do something about the situation?” asked Sumant, a resident.Though the road was converted into a one-way a while ago, the solution put forward by the authorities has been incapable of solving the matter.It is a very busy road as it connects Cambridge Layout to Old Airport Road and Indiranagar.While Thursdays are the worst, the area still witnesses a lot of illegal parking on other days of the week as well.People park along the sides of the road and carry on with their chores and shopping.The problem does not end near the temple.It in fact carries on up till ESI Hospital signal.This is partly due to the directional restriction imposed on Sai Baba Temple Road.The corporator of the locality, Gowtham Kumar, seemed refused to acknowledge any such parking in the area.He in fact asserted that double parking was not a thing that his ward witnesses.“Double parking is not common in the area.Yes, on Thursdays, it is crowded and people find it hard to make their way through.But the residents have adjusted to the idea of the same and it is not an inconvenience anymore.” While the residents seem to have become accustomed to the traffic snarls in the area, other commuters still have a tough time using the road.Mahesh, a commuter revealed that on one such Thursday, due to the congestion on the road, someone had bumped off his side view mirror.“I had parked by the side of the road to buy something and when I returned I noticed that my side view mirror was broken,” he said.Geetha, the traffic inspector in charge of the area said, “The temple people are also trying to do their best and willing to cooperate.The problem may be solved if the width of the footpaths are reduced.”
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