The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : NGOs punch holes in report on Bangalore-Mysore traffic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 28, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

NGOs punch holes in report on Bangalore-Mysore traffic

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, NOV. 27. The findings of a study on the road and rail traffic between Mysore and Bangalore by a private agency, published in the media recently, has been questioned by non-governmental organisations (NGO) and a section of people here.

The study claimed that the number of people travelling by train between the two cities was nearly 11,000 and those travelling by bus was estimated to be 72,320 a day. The report claimed that the "introduction of additional trains would hold up the traffic along the highway as there were 83 level crossings." The study concluded that "most of the highway traffic consists of cars going to Mysore."

Authenticity

These "findings" left the NGOs and the general public flabbergasted and put a question mark on the authenticity of the "study" on many counts. For one, the "study" states that more frequent train services could affect road traffic on the State highway because there are 83 level crossings. But it is common knowledge that the Bangalore-Mysore highway does not bisect the railway track even once along the 140-km stretch between the two cities and hence one wonders how they had arrived at the figure.

Bus passengers

The second aspect of the "study" is that the number of passengers going to Mysore by bus was 72,320. This aspect too has raised eyebrows and one wonders how the agency arrived at the exact figure.

According to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) officials here, the number of trips operated between Bangalore and Mysore was 134 a day. If one were to add a similar number of trips by private operators, though the numbers are small, the figure of 72,000 passengers using them could not be reached as the seating capacity of the buses is 50. Assuming that nearly 200 buses plied between the two cities and operate to full capacity — which is never the case — then the number of bus passengers between the two cities works out to 10,000 a day.

Train preferred

In contrast, there has been an increase in the number of passengers preferring train to bus and this was reflected in the official figures put out by the Mysore Division recently. In all, 1.93 lakh people travelled by train between the two cities during April this year as against 1.83 lakh during the corresponding period last year. However, this upward trend continued during May, June, July and August when a record 2.21 lakh people travelled by trains.

A section of the public has termed the findings as an attempt to push forward the controversial Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC).

Maj. Gen. (retd.) Sudhir Vombatkere, president of the Mysore Grahakara Parishat, alleged that the "study has been commissioned to deliberately give misinformation since the BMIC project is in doldrums."

This is in contrast to another study carried out by experts with inputs from personnel from the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation, Indian Railways, etc., which projected that doubling of railway track between Mysore and Bangalore could help provide a trip every 20 minutes during peak hours and could be expanded to introduce one train every 10 minutes. This, the study, said, would help carry nearly 60,000 passengers a day.

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