The Karnataka government has directed Bengaluru City Police, the Public Works Department and the Infrastructure Development Department to take action after a man died while trapped in traffic near a flyover in Chandapura, with the nearest hospital reportedly located just metres away.
The directive was issued by the office of Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh after the Times of India reported that Kerala-based businessman KK Sajir suffered a heart attack while travelling in a car with a friend. He remained stuck in traffic for nearly an hour and died before he could reach medical care, according to the report.
The case drew a written appeal from Haralur Road citizen-activist and former serviceman Jasjit Singh Gill to Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. Gill described Sajir’s death as “extraordinarily harrowing” and urged the government to establish emergency access measures around flyovers, expressways and construction zones.
Gill’s appeal said Bengaluru’s expanding elevated road network can become difficult to escape from during gridlocks. His five-point proposal includes emergency lifts, stretcher stairwells and clearer coordination protocols between agencies responsible for roads, traffic management and infrastructure construction.
He also called for agencies including the National Highways Authority of India, K-RIDE, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the traffic police to establish clear accountability protocols during ongoing construction. The stated objective is to prevent temporary bottlenecks from immobilising emergency vehicles and people requiring urgent medical attention.
The appeal was initially forwarded to the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner and subsequently sent to the Bengaluru Traffic Police. The chief secretary’s office has now directed the police, public works and infrastructure development departments to take necessary action, according to the report.
The incident has placed attention on an operational gap in Bengaluru’s elevated transport network: structures designed to move large volumes of traffic can offer limited escape options when vehicles are immobilised by congestion. The government directive brings emergency access and agency coordination into the official response, although the specific measures to be implemented and their timelines have not yet been detailed.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic Planning) Prabhakara G did not provide details of the specific action that would be taken, the report said. The next steps will therefore depend on how the departments translate the directive into access arrangements, construction-site coordination and emergency response procedures around Bengaluru’s flyovers and expressways.
