Days after a protest against the proposed elevated network of corridors witnessed a massive turnout, citizens’ representatives met Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday. At the meeting, the CM agreed to holding public consultations on mobility and the proposed corridor.
The protest came after Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) floated a tender on March 4 for the first phase of the North-South corridor of 22.12-km from Baptist Hospital on Ballari Road to Silk Board Junction without public consultation.
Civic groups led by Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) had organised a rally demanding cancellation of the tender for the first phase of the 102-km-long elevated corridor project. Over 2,000 citizens took part in the protest.
Terming Mr. Kumaraswamy’s response as ‘swift and spontaneous’, a statement from the citizens’ groups said, “At the end of the dialogue, he agreed to hold wide ranging and open public consultations on the issue of mobility itself, including the proposed elevated corridor project, before proceeding any further in the matter.”
Later, the CM, in a tweet, said: “Spoke to representatives of various organisations and citizen groups opposing the proposed elevated corridor project. I will have a detailed discussion on the subject soon after the general elections.”
Among those who met the CM were Leo Saldanha of ESG, Ashish Verma of the Indian Institute of Science, theatre and film personality Prakash Belawadi, architect Naresh V. Narasimhan, Vinay Sreenivasa of Bengaluru Bus Prayaneekara Vedike (BBPV), Zibi Jamal of Whitefield Rising, Isaac Amritaraj of Slum Janaandolana Sanghatane, and Srinivas Alavilli and Tara Krishnaswamy of Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB).
The press statement also said the CM had said that public transport is his priority and that he wished to develop Bengaluru as a high quality liveable city. “He also mentioned that he is not committed to any one project or the other, but is clear that this crisis is an opportunity for him to leave a legacy for a sustainable Bengaluru for many decades to come,” it added.
Mr. Kumaraswamy also received Prof. Verma’s mobility report and promised to review the document and alternative proposals, and promised to come to an understanding on how to proceed on the consolidated set of demands from the citizens’ protest, the statement said.
In 2016, citizens’ groups had united for a similar movement against the proposed steel flyover. The #SteelFlyoverBeda campaign resulted in the government scrapping its plan to build a nearly-7-km flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Esteem Mall in Hebbal.
