BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday said travel time from Bellandur to MG Road will be reduced to eight minutes from the present one hour as the Defence Ministry has given 12.34 acres of land to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for widening the road from Lower Agaram to Sarjapur.
Before making the announcement, Shivakumar held discussions with Lt Gen Basant Kumar Repswal, Commandant of ASC Centre and College, Bengaluru, at Vidhana Soudha on Saturday. Shivakumar said, “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and I had submitted a request to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who responded to our request and decided to give up 22 acres of land for the road.”
A tender of Rs 35 crore has been called for the first phase of 3.50 km of the road. The defence department has to give another 10.77 acres for the construction of a new road from Trinity Circle to Ejipura. This will solve the problem of traffic going towards IT hub Mahadevpura, he said.
“The defence department has already handed over 12.34 acres of land to the BBMP. Lt. Gen. Basant Kumar Repswal helped us with this,” Shivakumar said. “After taking charge of the Bangalore Urban Development Department, I listened to the problems of the people of Bellandur and the surrounding IT hub area. I received 8-10 emails every day about traffic congestion there. BBMP officials and I visited the spot to find a solution. The new project will solve the problem,” he added.
“We need space for the entrance of tunnel road near Hope Dairy Farm near Hebbal. We propose to allocate two acres of land,” he added.
Shivakumar said he has made a lot of effort and paperwork to get the land from the defence department. “I took defence officials into confidence and met Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted our request,” he said.
“In lieu of the land, defence officials have asked us to build infrastructure for them. BBMP will take it up on priority,” he added.