The bollards were stolen despite CCTVs near the traffic island on the stretch

BENGALURU: Miscreants damaged the aesthetically designed traffic island at SBI Circle on St Mark’s Road and made off with 11 metal bollards on Monday night. It’s the third such theft in the area since roads were redeveloped under TenderSURE.

What’s more appalling is that the bollards were stolen despite CCTV surveillance near the traffic island. BBMP assistant engineer B Nagaraju lodged a complaint about it with Cubbon Park police after it came to light on Tuesday morning. The bollards are worth Rs 1.6 lakh.

The theft left motorists and civic-conscious citizens fuming. Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw described it as “distasteful and uncouth”; she tweeted: “Shocking theft of bollards on St Marks TenderSURE Road, thieves have done this in full view of CCTVs. I guess police were not patrolling (sic).”

Sources in BBMP said it would take at least 30 minutes to remove the bollards fixed to the concrete, but it was baffling that neither cops on patrol nor any of the motorists paid attention to the removal.However, police who park towed vehicles nearby said: “People would have assumed that repair work is being carried out by BBMP personnel as they usually operate at night. They may have ignored the thieves.”

This is not the first time thieves have targeted bollards. A similar complaint was lodged on June 2 stating three bollards were destroyed near Church Street. On March 14 last year, a bollard near SBI Circle on St Mark’s Road was stolen.

Outraged citizens appealed to police to step up surveillance and security. "Thieves routinely cut sandalwood trees even from high security areas and stole one from Lalbagh! Bollards are chicken feed!" a resident reacted.

