The Shivananda flyover in Bengaluru’s Central Business District, which has already faced many delays, has been given a new deadline after Bengaluru Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Administrator Gaurav Gupta visited the construction site and instructed that the construction of the flyover be completed in three months, that is, by May 2021. Gupta has instructed that all pending issues including land acquisition, water pipe displacement and others, which are leading to the delays, be sorted out within three months.
A 493-meter long overpass is being constructed on 16 pillars at Sivananda Circle, of which nine pillars have been completed and six pillars are in progress. However, work on one pillar has been delayed since there is a 700-mm water pipeline that needs to be shifted. Officials said that 450-mm of the water pipeline located in front of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has been shifted.
The BBMP administrator has instructed that the pipeline elsewhere after obtaining permission from the traffic police department, as the work may hamper traffic movement in the area. The authorities are likely to ask the police to divert traffic for seven days.
For the flyover, 579 metres of land from seven properties is to be acquired and Gaurav Gupta has directed the officials to complete the process by issuing a transfer of development rights (TDR) to the owner of the seven properties. The administrator has also asked the Railways to develop a concrete box near the railway underpass where the construction is taking place, in order to ensure smooth traffic flow.
Some of the trees on the roadway have to be shifted elsewhere, an official said. The rulers responded and instructed the forest officials to take up the tree transplant immediately.
The flyover is being developed by the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Division and Joint Commissioners Pallavi Sivaswamy, Deputy Commissioner (Land Acquisition) Harish Naik, Chief of the Planning Division Ramesh, Superintendent of Engineers Lokesh, Deputy Forest Conservator Ranganathaswamy and other relevant officials were present with Gaurav Gupta for the inspection.
The Shivananda flyover has faced delays as well as protests by the residents of Bengaluru, who say that the flyover may not really change the city’s traffic problem and that the flyover is being built at an environmental cost.