BENGALURU: Amid heightened buzz over his continuation as Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa on Friday embarked on city rounds to inspect the ongoing Smart City and TenderSure projects, assuring Bengalureans of a world-class city with pothole-free roads.
A day after hinting at his possible resignation, the 78-year-old Chief Minister spent close to two hours on the roads with his Cabinet colleagues, Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Aravind Limbavali, R Ashoka, Byrathi Basavaraj and V Somanna, besides local MLAs and senior BBMP officials, including Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta.
They inspected Raj Bhavan Road, Infantry Road, Ulsoor Road, Dickenson Road, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, Kasturba Road and Palace Road. Yediyurappa inaugurated the refashioned Commercial Street, which is now rid of vehicular parking. However, Smart City Limited officials said some pavement works were still pending as work could not be taken up due to rain, and would be completed after the monsoon. Work on remodelling the 450-m Commercial Street had commenced in December at a cost of Rs 5.40crore.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the city rounds, Yediyurappa said work was taken up on 36 roads under the Smart City project. Also, 147 km across 69 roads in the city have been white-topped. BBMP officials informed Yediyurappa that white-topping work on Annaswamy Mudaliar Road, Bhaskaran Road,
Thanisandra Road, Kodigehalli Main Rood, Siddaiah Road, Ashoka Pillar Road, 80-feet Sarjapura Road, Seshadripuram Road, Koramangala 7th Cross and Old ORR are being expedited, and will be completed by October.
Gandhi Nagar, SC Road, Cottonpet Main Road, Dhanvanthri Road, Hanumanthappa Road and Vani Villas Road had been recently developed under TenderSure. The CM also inaugurated Nayandanahalli Circle, which was redone on the Mysuru Dasara theme. Officials said junction improvement works were being undertaken at KR Circle, Anil Kumble Circle and Mehkri Circle in a phased manner.
Yediyurappa said work on improving the city’s roads is part of the Bengaluru Vision-2022 document. “The roads of Bengaluru under Smart City and TenderSure are being redone in such a way so as to ensure there are no potholes or issues for the next 20 years,” he said, adding that officials had been directed to work and develop Bengaluru as a tourism hub for domestic and international tourists.
“Bengaluru should be made a Silicon City for all those coming here. So, all developmental works are being taken in this direction. It is the government’s priority to create world-class facilities in Bengaluru and the government will work towards it,” he said. He also promised citizens that works have been planned keeping in mind stormwater drains, lakes, parks and the city’s ecosystem.