Bengaluru activists, who have been raising their voice against the steel flyover project, have now trained their guns on the tender for the flyover.
"The tender does not have any value if the due process is not followed before issuing the tender. Let the government have public consultations, get the required clearances and then issue a tender based on that. Why issue a tender before getting the permissions?" asked Prakash Belawadi, a renowned theatre artist and member of Citizens for Bengaluru, a citizen group.
While the National Green Tribunal has stayed the steel flyover project by three weeks, members of Citizens of Bengaluru are gathering more voices of protest this November.
"Like many good things have come out of the Gandhian Satyagraha, members of CfB are planning to sit on a one-day fast on November 6demanding the government cancel the tender," said Srinivas Alavilli, convener of CfB. Activists and residents had earlier participated in a human chain on … demanding that the project be scrapped.
The group also plans to hold “Namagaagi Ulisi” (Save it for us) carnival on November 13.
Reading an excerpt from Jawaharlal Nehru's letter to children, where he mentions the need for environmental conservation, Prakash Belawadi said that CfB plans to organise a carnival led by children and youth a day before Children's Day, November 14.
"It is important we highlight what we need to save for our children and the future generation before we celebrate them," he said.
The activist claims that all their campaigns have got a good response from the people, including the “Call your MLA” campaign, where citizens were urged to call their local MLAs a day before the legislator's meeting with Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George.
Srinivas said that out of 28 MLAs, 16 expressed their opposition to the flyover at the meeting.
"This is the kind of response we are looking from the people. It is the citizen's voice that the government must listen to. We have got over 40,000 signatures against the flyover from people along with their contact details. Karnataka government cannot turn its back on this," he added.