MYSURU: In what will be a major relief to commuters travelling between Bengaluru and Mysuru, work on widening the highway into an eight-lane road has commenced. The state government has completed the survey, felled trees and fixed boundaries for the eight-lane road (a six-lane concrete road and two service roads) and has also completed the cleaning work to commence the actual work. The work is being executed at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore. Using the new road, travellers can commute between the two cities in under 120 minutes.
The government has cleared all the hurdles setting the stage for the actual work to begin in December. Dhabas, eateries and other commercial establishments have been told to relocate to start the road work.
Although, work has been completed at a few stretches between Mysuru and Mandya, the work will be expedited after harvesting of paddy and sugarcane. Raje Gowda, a farmer, said they will harvest paddy in another 40 days. The project will be executed on a cost-sharing basis between the Centre and the state.
Also, 80% of the land required for the project has been acquired. The work will be executed in two phases — Bengaluru-Nidaghatta and Mysuru-Nidaghatta — and work will start from both ends. Though the then Union Minister Oscar Fernandes - after a request from the then PWD minister H C Mahadevappa - declared Bengaluru-Mysuru Road a National Highway and sanctioned `2,300 crore, the current NDA government decided to make the road eight-lane at a cost of `6,000 crore.
PWD Minister H D Revanna said a Bhopal-based company has been awarded the tender and said work will take off from December 2018.He said they have proposed for bypasses at Maddur, Mandya and Srirangapatna as flyovers would further escalate the cost of the project.
A senior official executing the project, pleading anonymity, said they have taken up the issue of acquiring forest land with the Forest Department. He said units are set up at 3-4 locations to supply raw material for laying the road.
The official said power, water and telephone lines will be shifted whenever required. Site manager Gurvinder Singh said they have started the work on the acquired land which is free of litigation. “We have not touched forest land as we are awaiting orders. In a few cases of litigation, we have only forwarded the papers to the government,” he added.