BENGALURU: The agitation by owners of quarries and stone crushing units has hit development works worth around Rs 1,749 crore in Bengaluru. Asphalting of 477 km of roads, underpass, flyover, junction improvement and other projects where jelly stones and concrete are required have stalled as the material is not being supplied since December 22 when the strike began.
BBMP Engineer-in-Chief BS Prahalad said, “The corporation wanted to complete the Rs 19.5 crore HAL underpass and Rs 60 crore Y Junction improvement project at Sujatha Theatre by January 15 as 90 per cent of the work was completed ten days ago. But due to the ongoing strike, the projects cannot be completed by Sankranti. There could be a delay of few more days.”
He said the BBMP started asphalting of roads and repairing storm water drains under the Nagarothana grant of Rs 1,500 crore. But the works may not be completed before monsoon, he added.“The BBMP has filed an affidavit in the High Court on road asphalting work. So far, we have covered only 60 km.
Now with the agitation going on and indications of an early monsoon, we have to speed up work as soon as the agitation gets over,” he said. The BBMP started its elevated corridor project at Yelahanka at a cost of Rs 170 crore and 25 per cent of work has been completed, he said.
Nandish, Executive Engineer of Major Roads, said, “Once the Y Junction improvement work is completed, it can ease traffic in surrounding areas. Traffic entering from Tumakuru Road and Magadi Road side to Malleswaram will be drastically reduced. The impact can also be felt at Majestic.”
Vinayak Sugur, Chief Engineer, BBMP Projects, said the HAL-Suranjandas Road underpass project was lined up for inauguration for Sankranti, and now because of the agitation, not a single cubic metre of concrete is available and opening up of the underpass will be delayed.