BDA begins work on railway underbridge at Challaghatta

The BDA has started preliminary work to build the railway underbridge (RuB) at Challaghatta, a vital link between Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout and Mysuru Road.

The proposed underbridge will connect the tunnel road that the metro is building right below the depot.

The RuB is part of the new 10.7-km major arterial road (MAR) slated to connect Magadi Road and Mysuru Road. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has roped in Star Infratech to construct the RuB at an estimated cost of Rs 39 crore.

The project, along with the service road and retaining walls on both sides, is expected to get over in six months, senior officials said. The BDA has obtained permission from the South Western Railway (SWR) to build the RuB, which falls between the Kengeri and Hejjala railway station, engineers said.

Why the delay?

So far, the BDA has had little success in implementing the MAR project as it faced challenges in acquiring 321 acres needed for the six-lane road. Last week, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar reviewed the project and cleared the bottlenecks holding up the work.

The BDA requires about four acres of forest land at Sulikere, which the authority plans to acquire in the next one month.

Officials said that around four km of road from Challaghatta to Tavarakere will be completed in the next six to eight months. This is because the BDA has finally acquired around two acres of land that belonged to Padmashree Educational Trust, it is learnt.

However, plenty of challenges remain, especially litigation over acquiring properties beyond Tavarekere through the Machohalli industrial area.

Surya Kiran, a member of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Open Forum, said that the RuB is an important link to Mysuru Road and to the Challaghatta depot.

“The tunnel work is going on in full swing,” he said. “It is a good sign that the BDA has started work on a few portions of the notified road. Still, the BDA needs to acquire 75 acres of land to ensure that the work begins on the entire 10.7 km stretch, especially in Machohalli,” he added.