Citizens’ fury at girl’s death gridlocks Ballari Road

BENGALURU: A spontaneous protest by students mourning a 19-year-old college girl who was mowed down by a tanker halted traffic on the road to the Kempegowda International Airport for close to three hours on Friday.
Arpitha Janardhan, 19, a BCom II student of Sindhi College, Kempapura Hebbal, was crossing the road when the recklessly driven tanker jumped the red signal and ran over her at the Esteem Mall junction on Thursday afternoon.The truck also hit a bike that had stopped at the signal, killing 25-year-old Anand Sampangiramaiah, who was riding pillion.
The gruesome deaths have rattled citizens and civic activists. They are furious because civic agencies have ignored warnings that pedestrians and other road users are at risk at the junction, which requires a skywalk or an underpass. The intersection, used by students of several schools and colleges nearby, has become a traffic bottleneck.
On Friday morning, shock was palpable in the area. Sindhi College had declared a holiday to mourn Arpitha. But the institution recorded a steady stream of shocked students and their parents. Presidency College, which had a cultural festival under way, said it was not sure if its students were part of the protest.
The students soon headed to the accident site. Around 11am, a group of over 500 students gathered at the spot. Holding pictures of Arpitha, they began chanting slogans demanding justice. Soon, traffic on Ballari Road (NH 7) ground to a halt. The blockade caught police unawares.
Policemen at the spot were clueless on how to handle the situation. Senior officers, including additional commissioners Alok Kumar (law and order) and B Dayananda (traffic), rushed to the spot. Platoons of the KSRP and CAR were called in.
Efforts to convince the students to lift the blockade failed. Traffic piled up for up to about 7 km on either side of the junction: till Chalukya Circle in the city and till Jakkur on the elevated expressway and below.
The protesting students were accompanied by employees of the two colleges. Some local organizations joined forces with them.
The policemen tried hard to push back the students and create small channels for vehicles to pass. The gaps closed in no time as the protesters occupied the road in defiance of the cops. The see-saw battle sent tempers soaring.
Those affected included air travellers headed to and from the airport. As they realized the gridlock may not clear soon, many of them left their vehicles and started walking. Stranded passengers called the airport and airlines to request that departures be delayed.
The students were joined by activists and residents from Hebbal and Kempapura. When the situation went out of control at 11.45am, police detained four students and a librarian of Sindhi College under Section 71 of the Karnataka Police Act. They were released later.
By 12.30pm, police managed to move the protesting students into Esteem Mall. It took another hour for the situation on the road to ease. Around 2pm, the students dispersed.