Special grants for B’lore soon

Special grants for B’lore soon
Deccan Herald

Finance Minister P G R Sindhia on Tuesday announced that the government would soon come out with a special grant for Bangalore city and outskirts to reduce the traffic pressure by building new roads and also upgrading the existing ones which are damaged due to heavy rains.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore on Tuesday, Sindhia said a Cabinet sub-committee would hold discussion in this regard on Wednesday.

He had already held discussions with the captains of the IT and BT industry including Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. He would also consult Bangalore city legislators and the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) to assess the requirement of funds for upgrading the infrastructure.

JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda too had suggested that a special grant should be given to Bangalore for upgrading the infrastructure facilities, he said.

Sindhia said plans were afoot to provide a rail link between the proposed International Airport at Devanahalli and Bangalore city at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore to 1,000 crore.

He had asked the officials concerned to prepare a blueprint for the project which is proposed to be taken up under the Public Private Partnership model.

"Decision final"

On the Bangalore metro rail, he said the decision to be taken by the state Cabinet on the project was “final” and all the ministers would abide by it.

However, the state would appeal to the Centre to extend assistance, as it did in the implementation of the Delhi metro project. “If they want to build Bangalore as an international city, they have to help,” the minister said and expressed confidence that the Centre would not impose the full burden of the cost of implementation on the state.

He also argued that Metro rain was not the ultimate solution to the traffic problems of the city. Mr Sindhia said he wanted transparency and details of the actual amount of burden on commuters and the state. “This is my responsibility and duty.”

He had asked the chief secretary to hold a meeting of the metro officials and the finance department.

Airport

The minister said the ongoing works on the international airport project would be completed and the airport would be operational from 2008.

Such was the pace of implementation of the project that construction work to the tune of Rs 3 to 4 crore was being taken up everyday, he said. He claimed that it was the coalition government which was responsible for getting various clearances for the project.

Based on the suggestion from the Centre to provide a facelift to the terminal building of the airport as well as its expansion, he asked the officials concerned to place the suggestions before the Bangalore International Airport Limited Board.