BDA firm on beautifying City's gateways

Ambitions of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to give Bangalore a window dressing by beautifying the various entry/exit points to the City might not have found merit in the 2013-14 State budget, but the Authority is hoping for a green signal in the coming budget.

“We propose to take up the development of five major entry points initially, and have even conceptualised the design,” an official said, adding that the Authority was hoping the new Congress government would see merit in the proposal.

“There was just a thought last year. We had had some discussions about it but the government had not approved the proposal to be included in the budget. We will have to see if the new government is willing to add it in the next budget,” Sham Bhatt, Commissioner, BDA, told Deccan Herald.

According to sources, BDA’s empanelled consultant has envisaged construction of towers on the highway medians on the lines of the four Kempe Gowda Towers besides developing sculpture walls similar to the bas-relief at Hampi, along the median and the sides of the highway with different themes at different locations. “The various themes will depict the contribution of Karnataka and Bangalore to the nation,” the source said.

Themes

While the theme on Hosur Road, which is home to a host of information technology (IT) and other companies, will be ‘Industrial development (Engineering and Textiles) and IT-BT (Biotechnology),’ and the theme on Tumkur Road will be ‘History of Karnataka’.
Similarly, ‘Science and Technology, Education and Research, and Aviation and Aerospace’ will be the theme on Airport Road, while Mysore Road will have ‘Cultural Heritage and Tourism’ as the theme.

To take up or not

Informed sources said the plan, when it was mooted first, did not garner government’s attention as there were other concerns plaguing the City.

“The government had already come under severe criticism for not being able to tackle garbage problem in the City and several protests from people living around the dump yards had seen the government commit to identifying new places, which needed funds,” an official said.