M.G. Road to Bellandur in five to eight minutes? Defence Ministry agrees to handover land for road widening

Defence Ministry agrees to handover land for road widening in Bengaluru, reducing travel time significantly, easing traffic congestion.

The Defence Ministry has agreed to handover 12.34 acres to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to widen the road from Lower Agaram to Sarjapur in Bengaluru, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, announced on Saturday. This expected to drastically reduce travel time from M.G. Road to Bellandur.

Addressing the media after holding discussions with Lieutenant General Basant Kumar Repswal, Commandant of the ASC Centre and College, here, Mr. Shivakumar said the Defence Ministry has agreed to handover 12.34 acres to the BBMP and has given in-principle consent to handover another 10.77 acres to widen the road from Lower Agaram to Sarjapur, which would reduce travel time from M.G. Road to Bellandur from 1 hour to five – eight minutes.

“The Chief Minister and I had submitted our request to the Union Defence Minister. The Defence Minister has agreed to our request and has agreed to handover about 22 acres for the road widening,” Mr. Shivakumar said.

“We have already called for a tender for the first stretch of 3.5 km at a cost of ₹35 crore. Once the Defence Ministry hands over the remaining 10.77 acres of land, it would ease traffic from the city centre to the IT hub. Lieutenant General Repswal, who helped us close this arrangement, is retiring on September 30 and hence we invited him to the Vidhana Soudha to felicitate him,” he said.

This project would greatly help the citizens of Bengaluru, especially those in Bengaluru East, the Minister said. “As a Bengaluru Development Minister, I used to get eight to ten emails a day on traffic issues in East Bengaluru. In view of this, I had inspected the traffic issues in the area. Widening of the road with the help of the Defence Ministry would significantly ease traffic in this area,” he explained

The government has submitted an appeal to the Defence Ministry for two acres for a tunnel near Military Dairy Farm near Hebbal, he said.

Asked what the Defence Ministry had sought in return for the handover of the defence land, he said, “The Defence Ministry has asked for certain basic amenities in certain areas in return for the land and we will fulfil that commitment.”