Chief Minister Siddaramaiah interacts with commuters during a metro ride from KR Puram to Vidhana Soudha on Thursday.
DH Photo/BK Janardhan
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday inspected four civic projects, including the construction of the Hebbal Junction flyover and metro work near KR Puram.
The inspection coincided with the Karnataka High Court's hearing of a petition Siddaramaiah had filed challenging the prosecution sanction in the MUDA site allotment case.
The chief minister spent around two hours on-site.
At Hebbal, officials from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) informed Siddaramaiah that the flyover would be completed by the end of December. The flyover is designed to connect Bengaluru city with the airport, and an elevated loop is proposed from KR Puram. Siddaramaiah reviewed the ongoing work for the project.
The chief minister also inspected the service roads near Hennur Junction and Hebbal, where the BBMP had partially filled potholes. He noted that patchwork on the service road remained incomplete in several areas.
At KR Puram, Namma Metro had displayed posters detailing progress on the metro line between KR Puram and Central Silk Board. Officials provided a brief update on the project’s status, after which Siddaramaiah took a metro ride to Vidhana Soudha.
During the visit, some of Siddaramaiah's followers, including his security guards, caused a minor commotion by forcing entry into the KR Pura metro station, despite free access being granted to officers and media personnel to accompany the chief minister on his metro ride.
Party workers gathered at various locations along the route, shouting slogans and garlanding the chief minister.
In a press release later in the day, the chief minister cited utility work by Bescom, BWSSB, GAIL and KPTCL for the poor condition of the roads. He assured that the BBMP had set up its own batch of plant mix to address the pothole issue and had allocated Rs 15 lakh to each of the city’s 225 wards for road repairs.
In addition, the chief minister said a grant of Rs 1,700 crore has been approved for white-topping roads in 2023-24, which is expected to reduce potholes. A separate grant of Rs 659.71 crore has been allocated for asphalting 459 kilometres of road, with work set to begin in November and conclude by March.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who looks after the Bengaluru Development portfolio, was not present during the inspection as he has travelled to the US.