Karnataka's Siddaramaiah government to spend Rs. 700 crore to fix roads in Bangalore's IT Pockets

BANGALORE: All those living on the outskirts of Bangalore might soon see their roads get a facelift. Karnataka's Siddaramaiah government wants to shift the focus a little bit away from core Bangalore areas, and improve the condition of major roads and important link roads in the outer areas of the city by spending Rs 700 crore on them.`

Some of the areas that will benefit from this approach will be information technology pockets of Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura besides Dasarahalli, KR Puram, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Yeshwanthpur, Byatarayanapura, Yelahanka, the Bangalore South assembly segment, and parts of Anekal.

“Last year, we had spent more on the roads in the core areas. This time we want to improve the conditions of roads in the peripheral areas that are within the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits,“ Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who is also overseeing Bangalore affairs, told ET on Sunday.“This will help improve roads in places like Electronic City that have large presence of IT firms, and Peenya which has several industries.“ Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed the finance and urban development departments to bring the subject before the Cabinet early so that necessary approvals are in place and the work could begin early.

MORE FUNDS FOR PARKS & FOOTPATHS

The funds, according to the transport minister, will be released under the Chief Minister's Nagarothana project.

“We will use another Rs 300 crore for improving other facilities like parks, playgrounds and footpaths all over the city.“

The government, Reddy said, has set up a high-power committee under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary D Satya Murthy. Once the Cabinet approves release of funds, the road revival proposal does not have to go before the BBMP council. The committee will straightaway approve it paving way for tendering of projects.

The roads on the peripheral city areas have been damaged, and had invited lot of media criticism. “We want to give a facelift to them.We want to complete the work by April-May next year, well before the onset of monsoon,“ Reddy said.

The government is also spending ` . 200 crore on the Tender SURE (Specifications for Urban Road Execution) project in 12 important roads, and another ` . 600 crore on making six major corridors including the one between Whitefield and MG Road, signal free. “We will complete both Tender SURE, and signal-free projects by mid-2015,“ Reddy said.

SIGNAL-FREE CORRIDOR IN WEST

The BBMP has taken up an eight-lane signalfree corridor connecting the western parts of the City with the central business district at a . 115 crore.cost of ` The corridor will help residents of areas such as Rajaninagar, Mahalaxmi Layout, Basaveshwara Layout and Vijayanagar reach KR Circle within minutes. The project involves use of some railway land, and hence got delayed.

“This project will take about 18 months to complete,“ Reddy said.

After DV Sadananda Gowda took over as the railway minister, he directed the railway authorities to clear all hurdles for this project.