The steel flyover is set to be back to haunt the citizens of Bangalore once again as the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka is planning to revive the controversial steel flyover project which was scrapped by previous Congress government after facing severe protests, reported Bangalore Mirror.
On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister and Bangalore Development Minister G Parameshwara had announced the revival of steel flyover project and said that his department was re-considering this Rs 1,800-crore project.
“During Siddaramaiah’s regime, the steel bridge was dropped due to several reasons. I have decided to take up the project again and have a relook into this. I will release it to the public domain,” he said.
Dy CM Parameshwar said the project had been earlier scrapped for various political reasons but the Congress-JDS has now decided to revive the project as a matter of public interest. He further added that the government will place all the details in the public domain and invite the opinions and suggestions of the public. He said the government will take the decision only after taking all the opinion and suggestions into consideration.
However, Congress strongman DK Shivakumar has taken a tougher stance on the issue, saying, “The government will not budge to blackmailers coming in the way of development projects. The steel bridge is needed to de-congest the traffic in North Bengaluru. We are reconsidering the project after the request from members of the public.
The Congress-JDS government’s decision to revive the project once again has received severe opposition from various sections of society. Sridhar Pabbisetty, Chief Executive Officer, Namma Bengaluru Foundation has said that the steel flyover will not be a solution to the traffic woes on the Airport Road. He advised the government to focus on three-four junctions on the route to ease the traffic on the Airport road.
Srinivas Alavalli, who spearheaded the ‘Steel Flyover Beda’ movement said that this project will not serve the purpose of traffic congestion and will also be a disaster for trees. “Do they think people have short memories? We have fought a battle not only on the streets but legally as well. They are playing with the children of tomorrow. They do not have the vision to solve the mobility issues of the city,” said Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB).
Former Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa slammed Congress-JDS government saying that this kind of unilateral decision is unacceptable, especially when the project is controversial and also facing severe protests against the public.
The 6.9-km project will connect the Chalukya circle to the Esteem Mall in Hebbal on the airport road at Devanahalli and National Highway 4 towards Hyderabad. In 2017, the Siddaramaiah government had brought this proposal to build a steel flyover but had to stop the project after facing severe protest from citizens and green activists.
