A video of a doctor running for 3km in Bengaluru to conduct a surgery on time has gone viral on social media. Dr Govind Nandakumar, a Gastroenterology surgeon at Manipal Hospital in Sarjapur had to run to reach the premises on time for conducting the surgery.
“It normally takes 30-45 minutes from my home in Cunnigham road to Sarjapur. On August 30 (Tuesday), there was a traffic jam. When I checked on Google, it showed 45 minutes to cover the last stretch, which otherwise takes 5-10 minutes. The traffic was not moving and it wouldn’t have moved even if I waited for 5-10 minutes. That day I had to conduct a laparoscopy surgery and had to start on time as it was important for the patient and others who were awaiting treatment. I left my car with my driver and ran about three kilometres to the hospital,” the doctor said in a video.
Earlier, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said that a decision has been made to constitute an authority to manage traffic density in Bengaluru, a city that has over 10 million vehicles for a population of around 12 million people.
Bommai, after a meeting with Union minister for road transport & highways, Nitin Gadkari, said that a bill to this effect will be tabled in the upcoming session of the state legislature.
According to a 2019 report by Netherlands based global provider of navigation, traffic and map products, TomTom, Bengaluru beat 415 other cities in 57 countries to emerge on top of this list.
“Bengaluru takes the top spot this year with drivers in the south Indian city expecting to spend an average of 71% extra travel time stuck in traffic,” TomTom said in the ninth edition of its report.
The live tracking system indicated that there were 291 traffic jams currently amounting to a total length of 145.7km in Bengaluru.
According to the report, Bengalureans spend 243 hours in traffic or 10 days and three hours. At the same time, the report said, Bengalureans could have planted 244 trees, watched 215 episodes of Game of Thrones or watched 139 games of football.