Kolar needs to be developed: Muniyappa

Officials asked to draw up plan on Ring Road to boost connectivity

The district needs to be developed as an alternative city to Bangalore as the Garden City has expanded up to Hoskote, which is just 30 km away from Kolar, said Union Minister of Railways K H Muniyappa.

He asked the authorities concerned to plan a ring road to the city as it will eventually help in connecting the city to the State capital.

Participating in a meeting of the PWD, ZP and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana executive engineers here on Saturday, the minister asked the officials to prepare a plan to have a ring road from near Antaragange Betta connecting Chintamani and Srinivaspur road.

He also asked the officials to ensure beautification of the city by widening roads and providing the best infrastructure in terms of laying scientific drains and such.

The officials were directed to prevent polluted water from entering Kolaramma tank and plan for a park near the tank with boatlakes and a track for joggers. A meeting will be convened next week to discuss the issue.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, roads will be laid in villages where the population is 2,000 and those with one thousand population, will also have roads in the second phase, he added.

As per the project, nine villages of Kolar and seven villages in Chikkaballapur will be covered under the project. At least Rs 10 lakh (Rs 5 lakh each from PWD and ZP) will be provided towards laying of roads, if proposal is submitted, he said.

Under the Namma Grama Namma Road project, Antara Gange road (2 km stretch) will be developed and protective walls will be built to ensure safety. To develop Chelur-Chintamani road, the Karnataka Road Development Corporation has granted Rs 280 crore.

Besides, roads of historically-significant places will also be developed - Nandi-Sompura stretch till Kolar, from Mulbagal Virupaksha temple stretch to Avani, Bangaru Tirupathi and Bethamangala road, Rampura-Punganur road, from Rajpet, Kolar Gold Fields to Bagepalli road and Kurudumale to Vijayapura road.

He asked the officials to prepare an estimate in this regard and submit it in a week.