The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday pulled up the BBMP for giving excuses for the inordinate delay in completing the construction of the Ejipura flyover in southeastern Bengaluru.
Hearing a PIL petition filed by Adinarayan Shetty, a senior citizen living in Koramangala, a division bench of the court directed the BBMP chief commissioner to file a detailed plan setting out the date within which the flyover would be ready.
Shetty told the court that the delay in completing the 2.5-km-long flyover between the Ejipira junction and Kendriya Sadan in Koramangala had caused great losses to the public.
The flyover project was launched under the erstwhile Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with the central government paying 35% of the cost, the state government 15% and the BBMP 50%. The construction was to complete on or before November 4, 2019.
On July 29, 2021, the court had directed the civic body to file a statement on the outer time limit within which it would complete the construction of the flyover.
The BBMP counsel cited several reasons for the delay, including the process involved in cutting down trees for the project, and said the contractor, Simplex Infrastructures Limited, had been penalised. Only 44% of the work has been completed so far, the counsel stated.
“We are not at all satisfied with the explanation submitted by the counsel for the BBMP regarding the delay in the completion of the project. Prima facie, we are of the view that in case there were so many problems in the completion of the project, then the project should not have been started and huge public money should not have been invested,” the bench said.
It further said: “We, therefore, direct the second respondent (BBMP chief commissioner) to submit a detailed plan of the completion of the project in a time-bound manner. The second respondent shall be conscious that the project is already much delayed and it was required to be completed by November 4, 2019, and no further unnecessary delay shall be caused in the completion of the project. In case the detailed plan is not submitted before the court by the next date, the second respondent along with the records shall be present before the court.”
The matter will be heard next on January 20.