Taking note of the rising traffic congestion in Bengaluru, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday asked officials to decongest 10 prominent bottlenecks, including the notorious ones like Hebbal flyover and the Silk Board Junction. 

The instructions were given at a meeting on Bengaluru traffic management that Bommai chaired with officials of the BBMP, the BWSSB, the Urban Development Department and the police. BBMP Administrator Rakesh Singh, Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath, state police chief Praveen Sood, city police chief H S Pratap Reddy and other senior officials were present, said a statement from the chief minister’s office. 

Some of the other traffic bottlenecks are Mahadevapura Outer Ring Road, Whitefield Road, St John’s hospital Junction and Bhattahalli. The measures would include the synchronisation of traffic signals and removing hindrances, the statement added. 

Bommai said the works should be supervised by the jurisdictional deputy commissioners of police (DCPs). He also asked the officials of the BBMP, the BWSSB, the BMRCL and Bescom to work in tandem under the overall supervision of the additional chief secretaries of urban development and home departments to formulate measures for easing traffic congestion in the city. 

The chief minister also issued orders for filling potholes on roads, especially those connecting the national highways, and repairing 50 spots that get flooded during rains, the statement said. 

Bommai asked the officials to start the work on the Rs 48-crore signal synchronisation in the CBD and high-density corridors, and building high traffic density corridors in the city. 

Speaking to reporters later, Bommai laid emphasis on removing all kinds of obstacles from the roads. These include clearing water pipelines removed from dug-up roads by the BWSSB and the construction debris left by the BMRCL. 

The chief minister instructed the officials to clear encroachments on arterial, sub-arterial and high-density roads without showing any leniency and submit a report on the actions taken. “I will again hold zone-wise meetings to review the actions taken,” Bommai said. 

The DG&IGP was asked to appoint more traffic cops and speed up the work on installing cameras at traffic junctions under the Nirbhaya scheme.