Now the skywalk is only in the sky, is it? The Karnataka High Court orally posed this question when the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Friday informed that land of Esteem Mall has nothing to do with the skywalk but was required for upgrading NH-7 with a service road and for the elevated metro rail project.
“Construction of skywalk by Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or anyone else is not at all involved in the acquired land,” the NHAI stated while alleging that the owners of Esteem Mall roped in the BBMP to delay the process of taking over the land.
Claiming that the “petitioners [owners of Esteem Mall] being highly influential persons have managed to delay the handing over of possession for a long time though they were aware of the acquisition in 2010,” the NHAI said.
NHAI also claimed that construction of a service road from the mall up to the edge of the Hebbal flyover was stalled due to the delay in handing over of land, which is affecting traffic movement.
The land was notified in two stretches, in 2004 and in 2009-10, but NHAI had not deposited the compensation amount till March 3, 2015 and the mall’s owners objected to taking possession without adequate notice.
