Secrecy, skulduggery and perfidy that hitherto marked the controversial steel flyover project which the Siddaramaiah government has proposed to undertake in Bengaluru, has acquired a new dimension of stealth and chicanery with the disclosure made by this newspaper that the government has clandestinely given approval for the collection of toll from the users of the flyover whenever it is ready. Apart from the illegality of collecting toll on a road within the city limits when the citizens are already paying road tax, it is neither practical nor viable to collect toll from thousands of vehicles when the whole purpose is to allow seamless travel. The government also needs to come clean on the hidden arrangement between project contractor L&T, and Nagarjuna Construction Company, which is shrouded in mystery.
The monstrous 6.7-km project from Basaveshwara circle to Hebbal flyover, whose cost has escalated from around Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 1,791 crore in two years with no justifiable reason, has met with criticism on several counts. Experts have questioned the rationale behind such an expensive project, which merely transfers traffic load from one point to the other. They have also pointed out that it is meant to serve mainly the movement of private vehicles going to the airport, when the dire need is to decongest the whole city with different alternatives, including public transport. The Detailed Project Report (DPR), released by the government after much haggling, itself effectively nails any argument in favour of the project making it clear that only 3.13% of vehicles surveyed at High Grounds over a 24-hour period and 6.32% of vehicles at Hebbal were bound for airport and that it would do nothing to streamline the traffic chaos the city suffers from. The felling of over 800 fully-grown trees and encroachment of several heritage structures en route make it an environmental disaster, which alone should have convinced the government not to venture into it.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was vehement in his assertion that his government was determined to go ahead with the project. While defending the project, he made a disingenuous argument that 73% of the people who had responded (out of only 299 persons) to the Bengaluru Development Authority’s consultation process, had supported the flyover. What about the unequivocal opposition of 8,000-10,000 people, some of them prominent citizens of the city, who voluntarily participated in a human chain to register their strong protest against the project, Mr Chief Minister? It shows an arrogant, dictatorial attitude, which does not auger well in a democracy. Even after the project stands exposed on every front – abnormal cost of const-ruction and maintenance, limited utility and environmental loss – Siddaramaiah has given an impression that his government is desperate to take it up. If the chief minister does not relent, the Congress high command should intervene immediately and advise him to dump the project.