Modi inaugurating ‘half-baked’ highway for publicity: Surjewala
The Hindu
Bengaluru AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday alleged that the “corrupt BJP g
AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday alleged that the “corrupt BJP government in Karnataka” was desperately adopting every publicity stunt to stay afloat by going ahead with the inauguration of the “half-baked” Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway as the last ditch effort by “BJP’s sinking ship” at the cost of public safety.
He posed a series of questions and demanded answers on the status of the highway set to to inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
In a press statement here, he said Mr. Modi, as also the State BJP government, need to answer for many things, including the desperation for inaugurating an incomplete National Highway (NH), risking commuters’ lives. He cited what he termed “the brazen profiteering from Kannadigas from toll collection, defective road design, blocking the natural flow of water, absence of flood control measures and the huge injustice to farmers in terms of inaccessibility to their own land”.
He stated that in 2002, the Congress government had upgraded the two-lane State Highway to four-lane and allowed it to function toll-free. On March 4, 2014, the Congress government headed by Manmohan Singh (at the instance of the Congress government in the State) notified the Bengaluru-Mysuru State Highway as National Highway.
“The cost of construction of NH has gone up from ₹6,420 crore to ₹10,000 crore. Will the Prime Minister answer the reason for the doubling of the cost of the NH?” the Congress leader asked.
In August 2022, the highway was massively flooded at Kumbalgod, Channapatna, and Ramanagara as the natural flow of water was blocked. Even the flow of water for irrigation of farmlands on both sides of the NH had been blocked, he pointed out.
“This flooding will happen over and over again in every rainy season,” Mr. Surjewala claimed. “Why is the Prime Minister inaugurating a National Highway without appropriate flood-control measures and ensuring appropriate irrigation facilities for farmers on both sides?” he asked.
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