Tiff holds up road-widening at KR Puram junction

Rlys want more land than agreed to in exchange deal, says BDA

 A stand-off between Railways and the Bangalore Development
Authority (BDA) has delayed for 7 years the widening of Outer Ring Road (ORR) at KR Puram junction.

The BDA had proposed in 2009 the widening of the road adjacent to KR Puram cable-stayed bridge to ease traffic congestion there. The project involved providing a loop road from Kolar side and the National Highways towards ORR, Central Silk Board to facilitate the smooth flow of vehicles.

But the scheme never took off because of disagreement over land acquisition. Former BDA commissioner Siddaiah, who had held a meeting on the project in 2009, said: “It was in the final stage, and Railways had agreed to part with their land for widening work in exchange for land compensation from the BDA. It was a win-win situation for both the parties, and several meetings took place. However, the project was never pursued further in future.”

The present BDA Commissioner T Sham Bhatt, however, said the railways had laid down another condition besides the land compensation agreed upon during the meeting. Bhatt said: “They wanted additional land as an alternative to what they lost to National Highways. The BDA cannot hand over additional land which the Railways had demanded, and hence there has been a delay in execution.”

Sources in the BDA said they had even met Railway officials on land acquisition. However, Divisional Railway Manager Sanjiv Agarwal said the Railways have not heard from the BDA on the road widening for a year now. He said: “I need to look into the commitment made between both the parties regarding land compensation and other details before taking action on the issue.”

Local residents say that had the BDA gone ahead with the project, traffic snarls on the busy lane would have come down drastically. Without any such relief, motorists and commuters continue to face a harrowing time driving through the jampacked road.

“It is really a struggle commuting to ITPL, Manyata Tech Park at Nagawara and surrounding areas. The KR Puram junction is in chaos, and vehicular movement is always at peak all through the year. Had the ORR been widened, the traffic jams would have reduced,” said Sukumar M, a shopkeeper staying near the junction. Vanitha Reddy, a working professional who regularly commutes to ITPL from Kalyan Nagar, said the traffic at Tin Factory is always choked, and a flyover or ORR widening is the need of the hour.