Himalaya Harbinger, Uttarakhand Bureau.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the government is “rewriting history” with the Bengaluru Business Corridor, following its approval by the state cabinet on Thursday. Slated for completion in two years, the ambitious project is expected to cut city traffic by up to 40%.
The 117-km Bengaluru Business Corridor, linking Tumakuru Road to Mysuru Road via Yelahanka and Electronic City, is designed to ease city traffic as an alternative to NICE Road.
The state government has taken a big step. The erstwhile Peripheral Ring Road project has been renamed as Bengaluru Business Corridor and has been approved by the cabinet,” news agency ANI quoted Shivakumar as saying at a press conference.
“As much as 73 km of this road will be in North Bengaluru and the rest in South Bengaluru,” Sivakumar said. The government has decided to take a loan of ₹27,000 crore for the project through Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO).
Although the initial notification suggested that the road must have a width of 100 meters, the government decided to keep it at 65 meters, similar to the width of the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. The corridor also has a provision of 5 meters for a possible metro project in the future. “The remaining 35 meters of land will be given back to farmers as compensation,” Shivakumar added.
There is a provision to provide twice the value of the market rate as compensation. If some land owners do not want commercial land, we will provide them with 40% development land in BDA layouts,” he explained as he mentioned that four compensation options are being offered to landowners.
“If some land owners refuse to give up their land, we will place the compensation as a deposit money in the court and proceed with the project. No land will be de-notified at any cost. The growing traffic in Bengaluru is suffocating, and hence the government has taken this historic decision,” he said.
Asked if farmers can choose multiple compensation options, he said, “Only cash compensation would be provided to those with less than 20 gunta of land. Those with more than that have been given options to choose from.”
Although the original estimate for the project was ₹27,000 crore, the cost is unlikely to exceed ₹10,000 crore, as more farmers are likely to opt for land compensation.
The deputy CM also said that the previous government had notified the project but had not taken it forward. “There was no political will in the previous governments. I gave the responsibility to L K Atheeq (chairman of the project) to ensure the project gets completed fast,” he said.
Responding to criticism from Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who alleged a ₹15,000 crore scam in the B Khata to A Khata conversion process, Shivakumar remarked, “Good for him, let him deploy his investigation team to check.”
The deputy CM did not disclose the toll charges for the road usage. Although he said that no roads can operate without tolls, he noted that it is a technical aspect and he would share details later.
