Steel flyover project cancelled, govt tells HC

It’s final. The state government has no intention of building the controversial steel flyover between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal. A government counsel submitted as much before the high court on Tuesday.

The counsel further stated that the government had issued a notification in May 2017 about the cancellation of the project. The submission prompted a division bench of Chief Justice A S Oka to dispose of a petition against the project.

The government had shelved the project following widespread protests in 2016. But the matter was revived on January 1, 2019, when Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara announced that the government would reconsider the project as a solution to traffic congestion.

The project was also dropped earlier following an NGT order.

Previously, the high court had ruled that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) needed the clearance of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority— Karnataka. It was the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) which approached the court after the BDA allegedly did not answer RTI applications on the project. The Rs 1,800-crore project was also challenged on the grounds that is in violation of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and various orders of the high court.