Electronic City

Bengaluru

BETL is now taking the help of the police to chase revellers away



* Surveillance cameras have been installed to discourage people from drinking there

Signage saying people should not stop at the layby for more than a few minutes will be out up soon

Patrols in the area will also be increased

The layby on Electronics City flyover is being used by an increasing number of youngsters to party putting motorists at risk. The sound of cars and the spectacular view from 56 ft high is adding to the appealIf the Mumbai flyover’s underbelly is a repository of the stark poverty of its unwashed millions who chose to make it their dwelling, the layby of theflyover inis the new hang-out zone of the upwardly mobile excess.The layby — a paved area beside a main road where cars can stop temporarily — on the 9.98-km elevated expressway is being used by an increasing number of youngsters who stop by to take a swig of beer to the sound of cars swishing by at speeds of almost 80-km per hour.The imprints of these parties at 56-feet high are expecially found on weekends — the entire layby is filled with empty liquor bottles. This puts fellow motorists on the expressway and the highway below at high risk.When Bangalore Mirror visited the spot on Friday night, a group of youths were celebrating a birthday with alcohol. “This is the best place to party. While there are vehicles zooming at 80 kmph on one side of the expressway, the other side has the view of the city’s skyline,” said one of the youths who did not want to be named.However, the misuse of the layby has authorities seeing red. Flyovers are designed to have a layby in the middle so that drivers can park cars in case of emergencies such as a technical snag or to take important calls. The police also use these laybys to station their interceptors to keep a tab on speeding vehicles. However, as these laybys are empty at night, it has turned out to be favourite spot for booze parties. The spectacular view is an added bonus.The laybys on each side of the expressway can accommodate around two to three cars. People usually park their cars and then start partying with loud music. However, the worst sufferers are the motorists who pass by and staffers of the Bangalore Elevated Tollyway Limited (BETL) who have to clean up the mess that revellers leave behind. Confirming this, BETL manager (route operations and emergency services) Captain Baldev Singh said: “We have instructed our staff to patrol the area and chase those partying or overstaying on the laybys.”BETL is now taking the help of the police to chase them away. “We have installed surveillance cameras. We have also put up messages saying the area is under surveillance. However, so far we have failed to discourage people from drinking there,” Singh said.BETL has now decided to put up signage saying people should not stop at the layby for more than a few minutes. Patrols in the area may also be increased.“It is high time such parties on expressways are stopped as they can be dangerous to people travelling at high speed,” said Mahesh Kulkarni, a techie.The risk is more on Monday mornings when empty bottles accidentally roll over to the carriageway.