BENGALURU: A day after Deputy CM and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar stated that even gods can’t fix Bengaluru’s woes, the BJP slammed the DyCM and termed his remarks “unfortunate”.
BJP State President BY Vijayendra said the government is unable to close potholes in Bengaluru, but is speaking about tunnel roads. Shivakumar wanted to make Bengaluru a Singapore, but is now making such statements, he said. MLAs in Bengaluru are unable to get grants to improve their constituencies, the BJP leader said.
Vijayendra said Bengaluru is not just the state capital, people also look at India through Bengaluru, but the government is not able to develop the city. “They are not even speaking about development which is unfortunate,’’ he added. He said such a statement by the Deputy CM will demotivate the people.
Home Minister G Parameshwara defended the DyCM, stating that Bengaluru was not built for this kind of population. “Everyone knows Bengaluru lacks infrastructure. The city was not built to accommodate this kind of human and vehicular population. We have a population of around 1.4 crore in Bengaluru and an equal number of vehicles on the roads, but we don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate all of them. Unless we build infrastructure, traffic is going to be the biggest challenge for us, it has always been a challenge,’’ he said.
Further, Parameshwara said all ministers and Shivakumar are looking for alternatives. “One of the alternatives is going underground, in fact we have already started it. We may have to build flyovers at some places, somewhere we may need underpasses and also underground roads. It will take time and money. What Shivakumar said needs two to three years. It cannot be done in the short term but will take a long time,’’ he said.