Withdraw from court cases: Citizens' movement to Government on steel flyover project

BENGALURU: The Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) has urged the state government to withdraw itself from all cases related to the controversial steel flyover project ahead of the scheduled hearing of the case by the National Green Tribunal ( NGT) on Monday .

“We demand that the government withdraw from all the cases in NGT and HC, immediately , instead of wasting public money fighting for a project that the public emphatically does not want,“ the CfB said in a press release.

“The point is that the availability of train and alternative roads to the airport completely eliminates any argument for this hideous and expensive steel flyover,“ the CfB members, along with the Environment Support Group (ESG), said.

The proposed flyover to the airport will reduce travel time by just seven minutes, they said. The CfB hailed the reports about plans to make alternative roads to the airport.

“It seems evident that a huge majority of our 1.2-crore citizens, who daily suffer the traffic congestion and air pollution, is convinced that the solution is neither this proposal steel flyover nor more senseless engineering projects that privilege cars and VIPs but affordable and easily accessible mass transport,“ the CfB members said.

The CfB campaign leaders urged the government to introduce a comprehensive mobility plan that aims weaning people away from personal vehicles. “The government should make a sincere attempt to design a sustainable and liveable city .Pedestrians, cyclists and public transport (suburban train, bus and metro) should be given a top priority,“ they said.

The movement also rejected the revised master plan 2031, put out by the BDA, on the grounds that it has bypassed the dulyconstituted Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee and fixed a population projection in excess of two crore.