BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday held discussions with city MLAs and sought their opinion in decongesting traffic in the city.
He had also invited AECOM India officials to be part of the meeting and had asked them to come with a presentation on tunnel roads, elevated roads and other projects they have implemented in other countries.
AECOM senior vice-president GVR Raju and technical director Shivananda KT gave a presentation to the city MLAs on the design and feasibility of tunnel roads. After the presentation, Shivakumar told reporters, “I sought opinions and suggestions of top civic officials and city MLAs on tunnel roads. Our government will later announce its stand.”
On BJP protesting against the Congress government, alleging false claims on ‘guarantees’, he said, “I welcome and I am thankful as they are giving us good publicity about Congress government’s pro-people policies.”
Reacting to a query on holding the long-pending BBMP elections, which have been delayed due to the delimitation process, he said, “The government will go by the court’s decision and follow the law.” The Karnataka High Court has granted the government 12 weeks to redo the ward delimitation process.
An official, requesting anonymity, said Shivakumar wanted traffic amenities developed in taluks and areas under the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority to meet the requirements for the next 30 years. “He wanted a reputed company like AECOM, which has designed some tunnel roads abroad, to come up with ideas and designs for Bengaluru, he said.
Those who attended the meeting gave suggestions on BBMP elections, and restructuring of traffic at all major points of the city, like Tumakuru Road, KR Puram, Hosur Road, BTM Layout and Mysuru Road. The minister said he wants to set a precedent in terms of developing Bengaluru and surrounding areas during his tenure,” said the official.
At the meeting, Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh, Transport Minister and BTM MLA Ramalinga Reddy, Energy Minister and Sarvajnanagar MLA KJ George, Revenue Minister and Byatrayanpura MLA Krishna Byregowda, Housing Minister and Chamrajpet MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath, Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad, Pulakeshinagar MLA AC Srinivas and other officials were present.