Traffic planning, road widening and mass tree felling is all the rage in Bangalore nowadays. City officials have paid scant respect to environmental activist groups who have protested the destruction of the inner city's green cover. There is good reason for this. Do you know that our city planners are extremely busy looking far ahead into the future and have some great plans in store?

Here is a rundown of some stupendous new projects on the anvil and the benefits they will bring

1. Improving passenger volumes on the Bangalore Metro:

High passenger usage is a key to any major Metro project. Namma Metro has been routed providentially along M G Road, Bangalore's main artery. What could be better if large volume passenger traffic can be created to use the M G Road (Trinity) metro station?

To achieve this, we need to build many more steel and glass office towers nearby. An impossible task given the high land costs and congestion around M G Road. There is however a neat solution to this issue.

The government could undertake to drain and reclaim the historic and scenic Ulsoor Lake and build a vast number of offices there. Just a 10 minute walk from the M G Road Metro Station, this gigantic IT / BT Park will be a godsend to the Metro and will avoid thousands commuting to far off Whitefield or Electronic City.

Most of the city is a lake anyway during the rains, so why do we need a small one at Ulsoor?

2. Mega Traffic Project - Global First

We are now witnessing a major traffic project to widen Seshadri Road with scores of great raintrees already axed. This by the way is just an appetizer. Since this road is expected to get choked again in a few years' time, this will give rise to an unprecedented project of widening this famous avenue (sorry, desert track) to sixteen lanes one-way. This is when Bangalore really overtakes Shanghai, Beijing and other such cities.

Very simply, this mega project will be carried out by taking over the Race Course and a few other minor buildings and colleges in the way. Now, a sixteen lane road must have cross roads of at least eight lanes and so, Kalidas Marg passing by the Old Jail will also be widened by bulldozing all the trees in this area which has the name Freedom Park. The new name after this project is completed will be "Freedom (from Oxygen) Park."

The designers of this project have an astoundingly clear vision of the global balance of gases. Those living near the Race Course and Seshadri Road will of course get an additional dose of Carbon Monoxide. With great foresight however, our city fathers shifted the jail to a large area outside the city. The prisoners there (may their tribe increase) have access to fresh and unpolluted air. Our city planners have upheld the universal principle: "One man's Oxygen is another man's Carbon Monoxide"

If you have any suggestions on how to improve traffic flow in Bangalore, please write in, but do make sure that each project is certain to get rid of those troublesome parks, trees, lakes and heritage buildings.

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This is a half humorous, half sarcastic piece bemoaning the lack of caring for Bangalore's environment and the spirit of the City, which resides in its avenues, lakes and parks. The author hopes our authorities do not take the suggestions in this article seriously, but have a change of heart and think up original ideas on how we can preserve Bangalore's environment while meeting the pressures of a growing population.

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