Ring road plan goes around in circles

Ring road plan goes around in circles

The project meant to
decongest city traffic is still awaiting the green signal from the state government

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore
The proposal to construct a 130 km-long Intermediate Ring Road (IRR) on the outskirts of Bangalore still remains on paper.
Though the state government, over the years, had cleared several infrastructure projects in the heart of the city, the IRR proposal has been awaiting government approval since 1999.
The idea of constructing an eight-lane signal-free road between Peripheral Ring Road and Satellite Township Ring Road was to decongest traffic in the heart of the city, especially on ring roads. With this in mind, the state government, on February 2007, officially handed over the task to the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA). Till date, its status has not been verified.
``The idea of constructing an IRR was mooted in the 1999 structural plan. It was later revised in 2002 and in 2005. In 2006, the structural plan was finalised, but acceptability from various civic agencies is still awaited.
In 2007, the government announced that the task was handed over to the BMRDA, but was subject to central government approval. The project plan, till date, remains on paper, awaiting government clearance, a senior BMRDA official said on condition of anonymity.
Development in ten villages on the city's outskirts has been frozen. According to the BMRDA plan, a major chunk of land in these areas will be acquired for IRR construction. The ten villages identified are Harohalli, Bidadi, Tavarekere, Nelamanagala, Devanahalli, Hoskotte, Dommasandra, Anekal, Tattakere and Kanakapura. A physical survey of the land to be acquired has been conducted. The areas for acquisition will be notified once the cabinet approves the project. A 3.5-km, six-lane IRR exists between 100 Feet Ring Road of Indiranagar to 17th main road of Koramangala. This stretch connects most of the suburbs of Indiranagar and Koramangala and leads to Information Technology Corridor, which extends through Whitefield, Airport Road, Koramanagala, Hi-Tech City and Electronic City.
Indiranagar flyover has been constructed at the end of this stretch. However, BMRDA officials claim they have not constructed this stretch. ``IRR will be constructed between PRR and STRR. It cannot be constructed on the prime arterial road. We have not constructed this stretch,'' the official said.