Somanna urges Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to speed up STRR project around Bengaluru, upgrade NH in Tumakuru

MoS (Railways & Jal Shakti) V Somanna on Thursday met Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to expedite the payment of compensation to landowners in about 150 villages to complete the 144-km Dobbaspet- Magadi- Ramanagara- Kanakapura- Mudagadapalli stretch of the satellite town ring road (STRR) project.

The Centre designed the 288-km STRR project under the Bharat Mala project to prevent highway traffic from going through Bengaluru city as well as to connect important towns around Bengaluru. The Centre has already completed the 143-km Dobbaspet- Doddaballapura- Hoskote stretch at a cost of Rs 13,139 crore, the MoS (railways) said in a press statement.

The final notification for the Dobbaspet- Madagapalli section has already been issued and payment of compensation would pave the way for speedy execution of the project, Somanna said.


The union minister, who represents Tumakuru in the Lok Sabha, also pushed for early completion of various national highway projects in his constituency. Somanna requested Gadkari to direct his department officials to re-examine the alignment of the national highway work from Mallasandra (NH-73) to Vasanthanarasapura (NH-48) from the bypass in Phase two of the Tumakuru Smart City. Somanna urged Gadkari to depute a team of technical experts to study the alignment.

The MoS (railways) also urged Gadkari to approve the upgradation of Tumkur - Koratagere - Madhugiri - Pavagadh - Rayadurga - Ballary (225 km) road as a national highway.