BENGALURU: Smart City work on Commercial Street will be completed in the next 10 days, failing which action will be taken against the engineers and contractors, KR Puram MLA and Smart City incharge minister Byrathi Basavaraj said on Friday, while inspecting the progress of work in Bengaluru.
Basavaraj met shopkeepers and members of the Commercial Street traders’ association, who said they were unhappy with the pace of work. “I will inspect Commercial Street again after a week, and if there is no progress, they will be dealt with sternly,” he said.
The minister said BBMP officials were instructed to suspend engineers if they were not at the site to ensure that work was completed within the deadline. Contractors will also be penalised for delay. He said that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will be briefed, and that he would soon call officials from the BBMP, BDA, Bescom and BWSSB for a meeting, where the CM would deal with them.
With work on Raj Bhavan Road too pending, the minister said: “It is a very important stretch which many VIPs use. But due to delay in work and coordination with Bescom and BWSSB, there has been a delay. It will be completed by the first week of January 2021.” He also inspected Infantry Road, Kamaraj Road, Dickenson Road, Kensington Road, St John’s Road, Church Street, Millers Road, Lavelle Road, Magrath Road, Haynes Road, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road and Race Course Road.
While he assured citizens that there would be no compromise on the quality of work, and that it would be completed within deadline, he was unable to justify why only well-laid roads were chosen for the Smart City project. He ducked the question of why TenderSure and roads chosen under the 14th Finance Commission were being redone under the Smart City project. Basavaraj said he had inspected Smart City projects in Tumkuru and Davanagere, and was impressed by the progress. He would tour seven other cities soon.