BENGALURU: Aam Aadmi Party members staged a protest in the city on Wednesday against the state government’s decision on putting the once-shelved elevated corridor project back on track. They coined the elevated corridor as ‘a treasury stealing scavenger (sic)’ and demanded the government stall it immediately. President of AAP Bengaluru unit, Mohan Dasari said that he wonders if the government would create new corporations and separate budgets every year in the name of elevated corridor.
“It is disgusting that the bureaucrats are using the road traffic as a money-making way, where people have been suffering for years,” he said. There is a lack of scientific orientation over traffic issues as are over projects like flyovers, underpasses, road widening, footpath development and white/black topping. He admitted that there was no possible permanent solution for any infrastructure and also accused the bureaucrats of earning benefits from various schemes.
The government has once again proposed an elevated corridor at the cost of `26,000 crore and at a meeting held last week, a demand `9,300 crore was made to implement the first phase (east-west corridor). In the previous budget, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had given a grant of Rs 4,000 crore. The new government should tell the public where this money went.
Even though urban planning and experts, civic associations and citizens have opposed it, the government has once again shown interest to include it in the budget. This is unacceptable, the protesters stated.The permanent relief for traffic problems is suburban rail and improvement of mass transits, but the government is still keen on elevated corridor. The party demanded that the government release 20 per cent of its share for the suburban rail project in the coming budget.