Five townships in limbo

Five townships in limbo
BY CHANDRASHEKAR G.
BENGALURU








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Is the BJP govern ment delaying projects which were approved during the tenure of H.D. Kumaraswamy.

While town planners emphasise that satellite townships are necessary to help solve the city’s traffic problem, the government has not yet cleared the five townships planned by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

The projects were approved at a Cabinet meeting without taking BJP members into confidence before the collapse of the coalition government led by the JD(S). The BJP ministers had walked out of the cabinet meeting which had approved townships at Bidadi, Ramanagaram, Sathnur, Nandagudi and Solur.

After assuming office as Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa had said the projects approved by the previ ous government would be subjected to strict scrutiny before being cleared.

The Bidadi township was to be the pilot project covering nine villages. The BMRDA had planned to complete the township within three months. The total land required for the project is 9,684 acres of which, 2,725 acres is government land. DLF had shown interest in developing the township at an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) module, according to sources in BMRDA. DLF had agreed to transfer the township to the government after three decades and bear the land acquisition costs, BMRDA sources said.

BMRDA commissioner Abhijit Das Gupta said no project had been shelved. Cabinet notes had been sent to the government for approval and the projects may be cleared in the coming legislature session, he added.

Town planners point out that since road networks are planned to allow vehicles to travel at 160 km per hour, reaching the city from the townships would not be a tough task.

A notification has been issued to grant of Rs 400 crore to the BMRDA for the road networks. However, the money has not yet been released, sources said.