In a major setback to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is hell-bent on constructing a 6.72 km steel bridge chopping hundreds of old trees, Bengalurians have protested against anti-green move. Hundreds of Bengalurians on Sunday morning formed a human chain from Chalukya Circle to Mekhri circle to protest against adamant Siddaramaiah Government’s plans to construct a steel flyover which is expected to cut 812 well grown trees for the project.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who has shown keen interest in this whopping rupee Rs1,900 crore has made it clear that Government will go ahead with this project. The flyover, designed to ease commuting for travellers from the international airport to the city, will see cutting of over 812 trees and run over heritage sites, which are the pride of Bengaluru. This will also demolish heritage buildings where freedom fighters like Subash Chandra Bose and Viveshwaraya lived.
The stretch connects the city centre, Basaveshwara circle, with Hebbal, a node that takes commuters to an expressway to the Bengaluru airport.
Citizens holding placards saying no to steel flyover from various walks of life protested against the flyover. The social media is also abuzz with protest against the flyover and it went viral all along. The citizens are demanding a public meeting over the project which is seen as unfeasible by many urban infrastructure experts. Former Karnataka lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, Arundati Nag, Rajiv Chandrashekhar, Prakash Belvadi and hundreds of prominent Bengalurians took part.
EG Jaideep an entrepreneur who took part in the human chain to protest against the Steel flyover feels Government must find out alternatives to decongest traffic than cutting hundreds of old trees for this unviable project.
“The flyover is just going to shift traffic from one point to another and not reduce it,” said Ashwin Mahesh, a civic activist and an urban planning expert.
"We want public consultation on the project. The way the Chief Minister and the BDA commissioner have said that the project will go no matter what, is a bad day for democratic like India. I hope the democratic right of India is followed by the State Government also," said Sridhar Pabbisetty, the founder of Namma Bengaluru Foundation.
Suresh Kumar, of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a Bengaluru legislator who joined the human chain said the steel flyover would create more traffic mess than solving it.
The government has defended the project saying that over 60,000 saplings will be planted outside of Bengaluru to compensate for the loss of trees in the city centre.
Suresh Heblikar, a Kannada filmmaker and a well-known environmentalist feels government must find alternatives.
Naresh Narasimhan, a prominent Bengaluru architect, of Citizens against Steel Flyover, said that they will continue the fight until the contract for the flyover is taken back.
The steel bridge idea was first mooted during the BJP regime in the year 2011, in the form of elevated corridors. But it was officially announced in the 2014-15 state budgets, presented by Siddaramaiah.
Prakash Belawadi, theatre personality and activist, questioned the role of Bangalore Development Minister KJ George who is directly involved in this project and seeks alternatives to this project.
Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar said the project was approved without any public consultation, stating, "The entire city is up in arms. This blatant project is going to destroy the city."
The state government argues that the bridge will serve multiple needs of the city, easing traffic jams on the route to the international airport and also from a key national highway. KJ George, calose confidant of Siddaramaiah who was reinstated as minister for Bengaluru Development and State Town Planning, tweeted a detailed project plan on Saturday , which seeks to address concerns like cost, likely damage to heritage buildings and the need to cut down 812 trees, promising that 60,000 saplings will be planted elsewhere in the city.
"The big concern is that the project is opaque," said activist Priya Rajagopal, also asking whether "such a huge expenditure to cut down travel time to the airport by 7-10 minutes is justifiedIJ"
Opposition BJP has alleged that the project is an attempt by the Congress government to mobilize funds for election.