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Defence ministry will not part with its land for steel flyover: Minister

Last Updated 08 December 2016, 20:13 IST
In another setback to the state government’s ambitious steel flyover project, the defence ministry has refused to part with its land on Ballari Road in northern Bengaluru for the contentious bridge from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Independent MP, had raised a question in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, seeking to know whether the state government had sought any clearance from the Centre to get land belonging to the Air Force Training Command transferred to it to facilitate the proposed steel flyover. Replying to this, Minister of State for Defence Dr Subhash Ramrao Bhamre negated the claim that transfer of land was already in process and the Defence Ministry disagrees to hand over the land.

Bengaluru Development Minister K J George had earlier said that the state government had held meetings with the defence ministry on land transfer. Later, his claim was denied by the defence ministry stating that it had not received any communication from the state government.

George, however, had said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had told the state government that the ministry will cooperate in parting with land for infrastructural works.

The land transfer issue would further delay the government’s plan to start  work on the flyover. The National Green Tribunal has already stayed the project. Citizen Action Forum, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) run by Chandrasekhar, along with former additional chief secretary to the Karnataka government, V Balasubramanian, have  moved the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) Chennai bench questioning the project.

Besides, the state government is yet to get clearances from the National Highways Authority of India and the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority.

‘Endless troubles’
“The steel flyover project will be stuck for many years and the public, including airport travellers will be put to endless troubles. There are also several procedural lapses: the master plan was not discussed, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) did not seek approval from the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee and did not hold public consultation. So, how can the BDA call for tenders for the project when land acquisition process is not yet complete,” Chandrasekhar demanded.


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(Published 08 December 2016, 20:13 IST)

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