Bengaluru: With the BDA issuing a Letter of Acceptance to L&T, Citizens for Bengaluru, the group opposing construction of the steel flyover, is planning to take the protest to the streets to prevent commencement of work on the project.
Srinivas Alavilli of Citizens for Bengaluru told The Hindu that protesters will not take the government's action lying down and will resort to all democratic means to oppose the project.
They plan to assign a volunteer to each of the 812 trees slated to be uprooted. Volunteers also plan to obstruct earthmovers or road work on the ground.
Citizens met Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala on Tuesday seeking cancellation of the tender to L&T. Sources said that the governor pointed out that he has little power to intervene in administrative matters.
“The governor lamented the sad state of Bengaluru and promised to consult his legal advisers over the project and take action if warranted,” said Mr Alavilli.
BDA to approach IIT and IISc for quality checks
The Bangalore Development Authority board has decided to rope in the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, for an independent quality control committee for the project.
“We are yet to approach experts from these institutes, but the board has decided to form such a committee with credible technical experts,” said P.N. Naik, member (engineering), BDA.
Minister K.J. George said that all care is being taken to ensure best quality work. “There have been allegations that even as steel prices fell, the project cost escalated. L&T's bid was Rs. 1,854 crore, which was negotiated down to Rs. 1,791 crore. This negotiation included recalculation of the project cost taking into account the fall in steel prices,” he said.
Quarries to be developed into green spaces
The BDA has identified three abandoned stone quarries in Hennur Bande, Anjanapura Bande and Tavarekere Bande to plant over 20,000 saplings. Apart from these places, 81,000 saplings will be planted across the city, including BDA Layouts like Banashankari VI Stage, Kempegowda Layout and Sir M. Visveswaraya Layout.
This includes planting 2,000 saplings on either side of Ballari Road, where it will be felling 812 trees to execute the project.
It will also be planting 20,000 saplings in the Gandhi Krushi Vijnana Kendra (GKVK) campus and 3,000 saplings in the Veterinary College campus.
