Bengaluru: India’s Mars mission cost was Rs 450 crore for 78,00,00,000 kilometres. Bengaluru’s ‘steal’ bridge is Rs 1,850 crore for 6.7 km.
Just as Bangaloreans were getting over the joke on social media ever since the contract for the highly-controversial steel flyover project was announced, the National Green Tribunal decided that it was no joking matter.
The NGT Chennai bench on Friday gave an ad-interim stay to ensure the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) doesn’t go ahead with the execution of the project for the next four weeks, while asking the State to file its response within the next three weeks.
Just two days ago, the BDA had officially awarded the contract to construction major Larsen and Toubro.
The stay comes amid reports that work orders have been given, and civil works on the project could start as early as November 1.
“This Diwali, truth has stopped evil... It’s a temporary injuction on the BDA, and stops its rush to award contract till a proper environmental scrutiny (sic),” tweeted Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar, who has been campaigning against the project.
Along with the state of Karnataka, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is a co-respondent. As is the BDA, the State Forests Department, the Pollution Control Board, the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority and L&T, the contractors.
The flyover was expected to ease traffic between the Bengaluru international airport and central Bengaluru. Over the last few weeks, however, it has been heavily criticised for being planned in a hasty and opaque manner, with no clarity on its alignment. At over Rs 260 crore per kilometre, the contract has been given away but the actual map on what the reaches of the flyover will be, is still being readied.
The government further claims it will extend the reach, and this may cost about Rs 300 to 500 crore more – again, no clarity on exactly how much of the tax-payer’s moolah is going towards this. In fact, there isn’t even clarity on how many trees will face the axe.
Refusing to call it a setback for the government, Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, however, said it was a setback for the people of Bengaluru.
“More the delay, more the cost of the project... so it will be a bigger burden then for the people,” Rao said.
Petitioner Balasubramanian says their main contention is that despite a large number of trees (an estimated 800-plus) being brought down, the flyover won’t solve the traffic problem in the region.
“It is also well-known that speeding vehicles will create more pollution and that would be inevitable here.. the flyover will only lead to accumulation of vehicles at the end of the flyover, it won’t bring down the jam. We want the government to look at alternatives, that will give a thrust to public transport,” he said.
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