Land acquisition delays work on Iblur- Carmelaram

Announced in multiple budgets, the much-awaited road widening project from Iblur to Carmelaram in East Bengaluru is still in its preliminary stage.

The land acquisition process has been the biggest challenge for the government.

The six-lane 150 feet wide road with two two-lane slip roads on both the sides along with 3-metre wide footpaths was included in BBMP’s action plan last year.

The 8-km road is the main access way to many top IT companies and commercial malls in Mahadevapura. The bad condition of the road was also recently brought to the notice of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy by Wipro Chairman Azim Premji at a meeting in Vidhana Soudha, after which the chief minister had asked the BBMP to complete the work by November.

As many landowners are not ready to accept the TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) as an alternative to cash, as the project is being executed at a snail’s pace.

“A few landowners have relinquished their properties for road widening. But a few corporate companies and builders are demanding cash as compensation. This settlement is taking time. Hence, we cannot assure the exact date of completion of the project,” said Somashekar, chief engineer (road infrastructure).

Though some considerable amount of work is visible on the ground, the commuters expressed their dissatisfaction about the slow pace.

“The road widening work was announced so many times by the governments before. We are happy that it has started. But they are still just digging the shoulder drain for the last one year. Mahadevapura ward pays the highest taxes to the government but in return, we get very little compared to smaller wards like HSR or Koramangala,” said Rohin Govindarajan, a resident of Sarjapur Road.

“The drainage work is going on at those points wherever the land has been granted to us. We can begin the work at other places once we get the land. We regret the inconvenience caused to the commuters as they are stuck in traffic jams due to the ongoing work,” Somashekar added.

The work will be completed in two years, said BBMP officials.