By Zahid H Javali
In the eighth year, the dream of Koramangala citizens to have a link road that directly connects Ejipura signal with Sarjapur Road, has still not come true. The residents have re-started their three-year-old online petition to push for the project. Over 1500 people have signed the request letter to Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa. Besides, many citizens are now lobbying harder with the BBMP on the issue that will resolve the congestion problem in the area. The impediment is that while the defence ministry has agreed to hand over parts of its land for the link road, BBMP officials are calling the plan “unviable” due to reasons, such as violation of buffer zone (Bellandur wetlands) and private land acquisition. Residents call these “minor impediments” for the overall growth of the neighbourhood. “This road was shown in the 2015 Revised Master Plan,” says Nitin Seshadri, former secretary, Koramangala 3rd Block Residents Welfare Association. “A lot of work was done following the transfer of land from Defence under successive ministers. Even now, BBMP is dragging its feet.” Therefore, the road is legal in every way, and just needs the requisite permissions from the authorities in “public interest”.
The defence land issue is a non-issue now
Earlier, BBMP had failed twice in giving alternative land that was acceptable to the defence authorities. The civic body was giving land in Mandur where much of it was a landfill. The second option was a quarry in Anekal. Both were rejected on the grounds that BBMP was giving useless land that was not worth the same amount (Rs 282 crore) as the one given by the defence services. However, two years ago, former MP Ananth Kumar impressed upon defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to give away the defence land at no cost. “The issue was resolved in good faith, irrespective of the donation of the large tract of land,” Koramangala resident activist Vijayan Menon informed Residents Watch. “Therefore, on ground, the link road has been marked, done, and closed. The problem is that some private land needs to be acquired. But that is applicable for any road project.”
Renewed efforts by citizens
Today, the BBMP officials are sitting over the issue due to reasons best known to them. A month ago, the BBMP officials had apparently informed the Karnataka chief secretary that the project was not viable. The news prompted a team of residents to meet BBMP administrator Gaurav Gupta. “In a follow-up meeting a week ago, we requested the BBMP to do a survey of the buffer zone,” informs Menon, who is also part of Citizens Action Forum, Koramangala Initiative, and ‘Save Koramangala’ groups. “The administrator has asked for a project report to be prepared for the link road as there is no costing and budgeting done on it so far. If there’s a buffer zone issue after the survey, he has asked the BBMP officials to prepare a detailed letter to the relevant department that justifies the creation of the link road. It’s just a question of 300-400 yards coming in the buffer zone. If it’s still not possible to encroach this area, the BBMP can make an elevated road to circumvent the issue.”
Three years ago, when the link road was in the news, about 400 new flats were coming up. Now, there are 2000 of them, including the newest township: Shanthinagar House Building Cooperative Society in the ST Bed area. “The link road was a stipulation for sanctioning the township,” says Koramangala resident activist Ananthram Bharatur. “They waived this clause and people have already occupied 66 acres of land in the new township.”
We reached out to both BBMP chief engineer (Road infrastructure) BS Prahlad and BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad, but none of them responded to our queries.
