In all my years of covering infrastructure as a newspaper journalist, I hadn't seen anything like this. Hear citizens crib about the crumbling infrastructure in Bangalore? Yes, all the time. Witness students partnering with a civic agency to expedite a delayed infrastructure project? Never.
So I wasn't surprised to spot the TV crew of TV9, a popular Bangalore channel, eagerly interviewing the young E-Cell members of MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology at the construction site of Cauvery junction underpass.
The underpass project was started by the Bruhut Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike last month. Originally supposed to be completed in a few days, the project is running behind schedule, bogged down by manpower issues. The MSRIT E-Cell students volunteered to supervise some of the labour work, to relieve the site engineers to focus on other priority issues.
A small team of students had prepared a thermocol model of the underpass, to create awareness about traffic flow at the underpass to passing road users. Some even test-drove a JCB!
As MSRIT E-Cell President Abhishek explained it: "This underpass began with a 72-hour deadline, but due to external constraints, it is running far behind schedule. We decided to pitch in this E Week to help them out with whatever little we could do. The real classroom is here. We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship."