Cries against steel flyover get louder

After putting up a strong opposition to the steel flyover project in the form of human chain protests, citizen groups are in no mood to keep quiet.

They are preparing to launch a massive rally in the city to collectively say ‘steel flyover bedave beda’.

From Thursday, you may find your neighbours, colleagues at workplace, classmates or volunteers of Citizens against Steel Flyover (CaSF) talking to you in detail about why the steel flyover is not required.

Public places will have ballot boxes with voting options ‘Beda’ (not required) and ‘Beku’ (required) for people to register their opinion, along with their name, occupation and mobile phone number.

This is an action plan prepared by a team of volunteers to mobilise citizens for a strong campaign against the project. This will culminate in a massive rally that could be six to 10 times bigger than the human chain protest.

The votes will be counted on Sunday during a special meeting where experts will speak about the demerits of the project. The meeting is being held at the Rotary Hall, Lavelle Road, at 11 am.

Volunteers will keep vigil from Sankey Road to Ballari Road to make sure that contractors do not axe trees in the night. The group is also approaching the National Green Tribunal against the project. Srinivas Alavilli, who is part of the group, said volunteers would meet people in person with a ballot box as part of the signature campaign.

“We want to convey to the government that a large percentage of Bengalureans are against the project, for which a large number of trees will be chopped. The government should focus on improving public transport infrastructure, by especially implementing the suburban rail project,” he said.