The corridor to nowhere: Okalipuram mess drags on

Poor coordination among civic agencies in shifting utility lines has further slowed the tardy construction of an eight-lane signal-free corridor at Okalipuram in the heart of Bengaluru.

Started in December 2012, the project entails building a network of underpasses and flyovers over a stretch of 700 metres to provide seamless connectivity from the city centre to western suburbs. It has already missed three deadlines.

The extremely slow pace of the project can be gauged from the fact that even a visit to the site by BBMP bosses in September 2020 hasn’t helped things.

At the time, BBMP administrator Gaurav Gupta and commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad had directed their officials to take help from the BWSSB to drain the stagnant sewage water and approach the KPTCL for shifting electric cables. They were also asked to hand over the stretch to the railways for the construction of an underpass beneath the Bengaluru-Tumakuru and Bengaluru-Chennai railway lines.

Officials had promised that the underpass work beneath the Tumakuru line would complete by December.

More than five months later, there is hardly any progress at the site. The railways blames the KPTCL for the delay in the underpass work, saying it hasn’t shifted the electric cables yet.

Ashok Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway, Bengaluru, said: “The shifting of cables will take about two months. Thereafter, we may need about six months to complete the work on the underpass.”

For his part, Chandrashekar, Chief Engineer, (Bengaluru South), KPTCL, said the shifting was still underway, and only a few metres of cables were left that would not take more than a week.

The underpass construction requires careful excavation of land under the existing railway line so that there is no damage to the track alignment.

Engineers say only one metre of land could be excavated a day. Anything beyond will result in the collapse of the bund.

Passing the buck

When DH contacted N Ramesh, Chief Engineer (Projects), BBMP, who is supervising the work, he said he had no information on the progress of the project and asked this reporter to get in touch with Satyanarayana, Executive Engineer (Projects), BBMP, saying he is in charge. Satyanarayana passed the buck back to Ramesh, saying he has all the details.

Meanwhile, road users continue to suffer.

Keshav, a resident of Rajajinagar, said travelling on the stretch, especially during rains, was difficult. “The underpasses and roads get filled with rainwater, and we have to wade through,” he said. “Then there are no streetlights or signboards on the entire stretch.”

Project details

* Work started in December 2012

* Length of the Okalipuram corridor: About 700 metres

* Progress so far: 60%

* Cost of the project: Rs 102.84 cr

* Deadlines missed: March 2014, Dec 2017, March 2020