The three ‘hanging’ flyovers in the city — Hennur flyover and the railway over bridges (ROB) at Goraguntepalya and Byappanahalli — may not trouble motorists for much longer. The projects have been stuck for years because of land acquisition issues, thus causing huge traffic bottlenecks. On Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed officials to complete them before the end of the year.
Though the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had approved acquisition of 41 properties needed for the completion of Hennur flyover in 2015, the land acquisition department has bought out only 13 till date. During his city rounds on Tuesday, Mr. Siddaramaiah took Vasanth Kumar, DC (Land Acquisition), BDA, to task, warning him of suspension if all the 41 properties are not acquired within a month. P.N. Naik, engineer, BDA, said they could finish building the ramps, both upwards and downwards, within two months of beginning work.
Work on the ROB at Goraguntepalya, also stuck owing to land acquisition issues, is all set to be cleared in a few weeks. “BDA needs 10.5 guntas of land to begin work. I have instructed the BDA to pay the land owner compensation as per residential rates within two weeks. The work will begin soon,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Though the Chief Minister was scheduled to visit the Byappanahalli ROB as well, he could not because of paucity of time. However, BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said the Army has agreed to swap 2.2 acres of defence land needed for the project with two parcels of land at MEG. “We have asked South Western Railway to begin work on the ROB. But they had terminated the earlier contract. They will now call for new tenders and begin work in another two months,” he said.
