Hours after a meeting with the BJP’s Tejasvi Surya, who has opposed the tunnel road project in Bengaluru, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said Tuesday that the MP failed to provide alternatives to ease traffic congestion in the city.
“Anybody can give suggestions. But funds are required for (transport infrastructure) works. What can be done without money?” he said, asking Surya and other BJP MPs to secure funds for Bengaluru from the Centre.
The MP met Shivakumar in the morning, and the two held discussions for more than an hour. Surya later said the discussion was “constructive” and that the deputy chief minister heard the full presentation on decongesting traffic in Bengaluru. “I am hopeful that he will not go ahead with the project. We will have to wait and see what he does,” the MP told reporters.
Surya said that for vehicle numbers to go down in the city, 300-km Metro connectivity is required along with a 300-km suburban rail network. Such projects should be prioritised to ease congestion, he added. A tram network was among the other proposals submitted by the MP.
In response, Shivakumar said Bengaluru was adding Metro lines and was not opposed to it. “I asked him to secure funds for the Metro because the Centre’s contribution for the project is just 10-12 per cent. For that, he did not respond… Suburban rail has been promised for the last 10 years, but even one line has not been completed till now. So I told him not to offer advice but to get funds for projects,” the Congress leader said, asking Surya to take a delegation of MPs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to secure funds for Bengaluru.
The government is ready to address any shortcomings of the tunnel road project and set it right if required, Shivakumar said. “(Surya) said he had studied the project. However, he did not offer any alternatives. Still, I respect his suggestions,” he stated.
During the meeting, Surya asked the government to allow private players to operate small buses in Bengaluru. “Vehicle numbers are already high in Bengaluru,” the deputy chief minister said, pointing out that allowing such buses would only worsen congestion.