Whether the people of Shidlaghatta like it or not, the district administration has to carry on road widening works in order to provide better connectivity to the international airport in Bangalore.

As a part of its road widening project, the Public Works Department has begun survey of the roads in Shidlaghatta. The deputy commissioner’s announcement of launching the work on the much delayed project has made not all happy.

The deputy commissioner has also instructed the officials to complete the works within a week. The deputy commissioner’s decision has caused unrest among those who assumed that the widening would never take place due to political pressure.

It is planned to widen the stretch of road from  the Government bus station to cocoons market, and from Mayura circle to Shivaji (Fort) circle.  Approval has been given to widen the road upto 6 meter on both the sides, within a short span of period.

If the deputy commissioner’s decision were to be final, the roads will be widened within the next 10 days. And the road widening certainly follows the encroachment clearance drive, which is the reason why some of the people oppose the project.

However, the officials feel that Deputy Commissioner Subhod Yadav seemed to be determined to go his way.

Connecting to airport

The State and National Highway come within the town limits and also in a couple of months the construction of international airport will be over.  The basic infrastructure is being developed within the 60 km radius of the airport. Hence, the Bangalore Interanation Airport Authority has to initiate necessary steps.

Already a high-level meeting was convened. Following this, the district administration has to complete the works in time inevitably. A radar centre will be erected in Bommanahalli of Shidlaghatta taluk. Works on the centre has already begun and works power supply and roads are in progress. Hence, there will not be any delay in completion of the road widening works in Shidlaghatta also.

Despite opposition from a section of the society to the widening project, many have welcomed the move. Most of the public opine that the encroachment has narrowed down the roads leading to bottleneck traffic. This has also affected business activities. Hence, following the examples of Bagepalli, Chikkaballapur and Chintamani taluks, the road widening is nessesary to solve this problem.

Majority of those who appeal is comprised of political leaders who have their property encroaching upon the roads. To prevent the loss they have gone to put pressure from the higher ups to stop the work.

Whether the deputy commissioner’s order will be implemented or not has remained a million dollar question for the residents of Shidlaghatta.