Bengaluru: The controversial steel flyover project between Chalukya Circle and Hebbal, which is being pushed by the Siddaramaiah government, was rejected by the board of the Bengaluru Development Authority in 2011 mainly over the cost involved, according to highly placed sources.
The flyover was one of the Rs 22,000 crore projects placed for clearance before the BDA board during the term of Mr Subir Hari Singh as BDA chairman, they reveal. When two senior IAS officers, including Mr K.M. Shivakumar, who were present at the board meeting, wanted specific details about the flyover and other projects, the BDA officers reportedly had no answer, forcing Mr Harisingh to apologise to the board for their lack of information and order the withdrawl of the proposals made.
“The main concern was when the BDA had no funds, how could these projects be implemented. But the BDA officials had no convincing reply and so the projects were rejected,” said sources.
The steel flyover was originally conceived when senior IAS officer, Bharat Lal Meena was BDA commissioner. When contacted, Mr Meena said that it was conceived because it wouldn’t take long to build and traffic would not be disrupted for long.
“Also, we already have several steel bridges in our country, the most famous being the Howrah Bridge,” he pointed out, adding that the proposal, however, did not go to the Cabinet at the time.
Another senior officer confirmed that the project was not cleared when the BJP was in power in the state, although it was conceived by Mr Meena and his team. While it's not clear when the idea of building the steel flyover was revived, some suggest it may have gained a new lease of life during Mr Sham Bhat’s tenure as BDA commissioner.
