Online campaign rises against elevated corridors

Claiming that the political class has stifled their voice, citizens’ groups and activists held an online campaign, #ElevatedCorridorBeda, on Sunday to express their views against the Rs 15,825-crore project.

Citizen for Bengaluru (CfB) conducted a mass Facebook live campaign joined by more than a hundred netizens. The objective is to send a clear signal that citizens are not in favour of elevated corridors ahead of the meeting convened by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday, the CFB said.

In his recent budget speech, Kumaraswamy promised six interconnected elevated corridors in the next four years, but civic activists and experts argue that the project may not be the right solution for the traffic woes.

It may uproot 3,600 trees and encourage buying more vehicles just when the city is struggling to grapple with 70 lakh two and four wheelers.

Speaking about the campaign, CfB's Srinivas Alavilli said it was held after news emerged that a high-level meeting will convene with Chief Minister and deputy chief minister on Monday.

"Since ordinary citizens are not called and no public consultation ever took place, we wanted to make our voice heard by the chief minister through social media. Elevated corridor is a terrible idea and not the right solution for Bengaluru. We must focus on suburban train, bus, bicycles, and footpath without any other distractions,” he added.

More than 100 people went live on Facebook and conveyed their opinions on the project by making short videos.