Nirmala Sitharaman hands over defence land to CM Kumaraswamy

BENGALURU: Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for 12 developmental projects that are to be carried out on defence lands.

Sitharaman said the request for defence lands had been pending for many years. “Small parcels of defence land had become big hurdles in the way of developmental projects. I was disappointed to find that there were no sincere efforts made by governments to resolve the issues, and many projects remained incomplete. But this time, we are committed to resolve them. After all, people’s aspirations have to met by governments,” she said.

Kumaraswamy said the coalition government was committed to change the face of Bengaluru. “Shortly, work on the suburban train project will also start. The government has also planned peripheral ring roads and a 102km elevated corridor to decongest city roads.”The defence minister also formally handed over properties -- totally measuring 55,000 sqm -- from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to the chief minister to start these projects. Of the 12 projects, two are related to the construction of underground Metro stations at Vellara Junction and MG Road. 

Metro Phase-2 includes 12 underground stations, of which three are proposed to be set up on defence land. The MoD has provided working permission to take up work on MG Road and Vellara Junction stations, while approval for the third station at Langford Town is expected shortly. The MoD has provided 1,557 sqm of land on permanent basis and 7,197 sqm on temporary basis, for construction of the two stations. Work on the underground section is likely to commence in the next three months.

10 projects to be taken up by BBMP at Rs 100 crore (in sqm)

• Additional loop for existing Railway Over Bridge at Banaswadi: 446.85 
• ROB at Byappanahalli: 10,207.26
• Road from Ejipura Inner Ring Road to Sarjapur: 21,600 
• Road connecting NH-7 to Sanjeevani Nagar (Ward 7): 3,790.83 
• Road connecting NH-7 to Hebbal Sarovara Layout: 2,003.88 
• Widening of existing Hosur- Laskar Road — 10,637.11 
• Widening of Lower Agaram Rd from Hosmat Hospital to Viveknagar: 1,699.42 
• Widening of Lower Agaram Road: 3,31.72 
• Alternative road from Kaval Byrasandra to Modi Garden in DJ Halli: 4,604.93 
• Slip road in construction of elevated corridor by integrating Ejipura Main Road Inner Ring Road Jn, Sony World Jn, Kendriya Sadan Jn: 497.90