Project report for Deputy chief minister? No discussion yet by govt on Ballari Road concrete bridge

BENGALURU: Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has not yet held a discussion on a proposal for a concrete flyover along Ballari Road between Chalukya Circle and Hebbal, sources in the government told TOI on Friday.
Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara reportedly said he had directed officials to prepare a detailed project report for a concrete bridge on Ballari Road.
Kumaraswamy was not in a position to react to reports on the steel flyover being repurposed as an elevated concrete corridor, the sources said.The matter could only be “discussed” and “debated” after the project is presented to the cabinet for approval, they said.
“The CM will wait to gather information on Parameshwara’s project from officials and raise the issue when the matter comes up before the cabinet,” one official said. “Any dispute on the project will seem like a political snub to Parameshwara in the present circumstances.”
Sources said the CM is under “political compulsions” not to contest Parameshwara’s pet project ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Despite repeated attempts to reach out to him, Parameshwara could not be contacted to comment on this report.
A senior official with Karnataka State Road Development Corporation (KRDCL), which is executing the elevated corridor, said there is little chance of a separate concrete corridor on Ballari Road as the north-south corridor, for which tenders were floated recently, already aligns along Ballari Road from Hebbal Flyover to Mehkri Circle before it takes a diversion towards Jayamahal Road.
“Is there scope for another concrete flyover along the stretch? We doubt it,” he said.
CONSULT EXPERTS AT IISC, SAYS GUHA
Noted historian Ramachandra Guha, in a series of tweets on Friday, wondered why the chief minister and the deputy chief minister are not consulting experts before going ahead with the project on Ballari Road.
“The country’s leading experts on transportation are at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru,” Guha said. “Why aren’t the chief minister and deputy chief minister consulting them about this potentially damaging project?”
“This project will be environmentally disastrous and IISc professors have said there are better ways to minimise traffic congestion in central Bengaluru,” he said. “Why are politicians in such haste to go ahead with this project? Why haven’t they availed of expert advice in their own city? Do the CM and the Deputy CM know the best way to build flyovers or decongest traffic? Why aren’t internationally renowned experts on traffic and transportation who are at the IISc in Bengaluru being consulted? Why such haste?”