Almost ten months ago, we wrote that the much-touted cycle lane project for HSR Layout was delayed due to non-payment of bills. While only one bill is cleared, the rest of the bills are pending clearance. The reason is that the Department of Urban Transport (DULT) only cleared the bill for the work that was originally given to the contractor. However, the project work later involved doing up the pavements and drains, which escalated the original project cost and required a revised plan.
It was merely a practical decision. When the project was mooted in 2011, the drains and pavements were fine. However, when the track was being executed five years later, the drains and pavements needed a complete overhaul. Without these in shape, a cycle track did not make any sense. Which is why, the then additional chief secretary and DULT commissioner agreed to revise the design and budget. But now, with a new ACS and DULT commissioner, the project is back to square one as their lower-rung officers are yet to submit the revised design and budget estimates.
In the meanwhile, an overzealous contractor who was assured by the then DULT commissioner and ACS took up the additional work of the drains and footpaths and even finished two-thirds of the lane project. However, when the bills were sent to DULT, they were rejected because the footpaths and drains were not part of the original plan.
This beats the citizens, because it is just a question of balancing the books. The money that DULT was supposed to give should now be given by BBMP for the additional works, if budgeting is really the constraint. However, sources tell us that the technical team at DULT is not keen on proceeding with the project as they have other priorities in mind. While both the additional chief secretary and DULT commissioners have changed, the problem is not with them; it’s with the people lower down the ladder.
“One bill is still pending clearance,” says Panduranga, the contractor of the HSR project. “Another bill is yet to be submitted by us. The project is in limbo for one year now because DULT doesn’t seem to be interested in the HSR project. The misunderstanding between the original plan of 2011 was cleared in 2016 by then ACS and the then DULT commissioner had agreed to include the drains and footpaths in the new plan, so that is not really the problem today. It’s just that the DULT officials are not interested in this project anymore due to reasons best known to them.”
Kavitha Reddy, a resident of HSR Layout and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson has written to V Ponnuraj, the new commissioner at DULT. “I was given to understand that with the knowledge of local elected representatives and ACS (additional chief secretary), the scope of the work was extended to include drain works and pavements, but unfortunately that was not documented and approved by DULT,” says Reddy. “The contractor has however gone ahead with the new specification, but since DULT has raised objections and not released any approval or payment as per new specifications, the work is completely halted. If this prestigious and path breaking project of DULT has to make an impact, the new specifications have to be considered too. I have also raised this issue with ACS, BBMP Commissioner and DULT staff. If BBMP has to take the cost of new specifications, then the same has to be discussed with BBMP Commissioner and also ACS if additional funds can be released to DULT from Urban Development.”
The width of the cycle lanes were also reduced to accommodate more traffic on the roads from 2.5 metres to 2 metres, but the project itself is in suspended animation. If all goes well, the cycle track will come up on a 9.7 kilometre stretch of the following roads: 14th Main, 17th Cross, 19th Main and 27th Main. According to the plan, all the signboards on these roads will change. With the cycle track on one side, there will be pelican signals (pedestrian light controlled crossing on poles installed on the footpath) for easy movement.
