BENGALURU: The construction of a vital Road Over Bridge (ROB) at Baiyappanahalli, which commenced work a few months ago, has come to a standstill yet again. The reason- BBMP went back on the promises made to the defence department, that it would shift all its utilities before taking up the work.
The Rs 27 crore ROB proposed in 2010 aims at connecting the fully ready Sir M Visvesvaraiah Coaching Terminal at Baiyappanahalli and the Swami Vivekananda Metro station, allowing commuters to easily interchange. It is also expected to ease the daily traffic congestion on Old Madras Road.
After 70 per cent of the work was done, further construction came to a halt in 2012, due to the defence department unwilling to part with its land to build the ramp on one side of the bridge. Finally, the green signal was obtained on Aug 2018, and work commenced after that with repeated breaks due to Covid.
A reliable railway source told TNIE, “The approach retaining wall (ramp) leading to the bridge, which was pending for three years, has also been built now and the asphalting needs to be done. So right now, 90% of the work is complete, but it all stopped again last week. This is because BBMP did not adhere to the conditions of the MoU with the defence department before taking over its land.”
Confirming it, a defence source said that as part of the MoU for transfer of Defence deal, SWR was to execute works for all the damages caused to defence property and also carry out some additional compensatory works. The compensatory works included construction of a 1100-metre compound wall running to a height of 3 metres, three watch towers, erection of gates that were removed for the ROB and build a guard house and a bathroom.
“Since SWR has withdrawn itself from executing the work, it was handed over to BBMP. The Palike is yet to award contracts to commence the work. Despite repeatedly emphasising the need to expedite the work, no progress has been made so far by BBMP, “ the source added. B S Prahalad, Chief Engineer (Roads and Infrastructure), BBMP, said, “We will give it priority and take it up at the earliest.”