5 reasons why Bengaluru doesn't need Rs 2,000-cr steel flyover project

The proposed steel flyover in India's IT capital might have serious environmental implications

The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal on Friday restrained the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) from proceeding with the Rs 2,000-crore steel flyover project for four weeks.

The tribunal granted an interim stay on the flyover proposal that has lately kicked up controversies and directed BDA not to carry on with the project work for four weeks. The matter was posted for further hearing on November 25.

The interim stay followed petitions by Neelaiah, Citizen Action Forum and others that claimed the project flouted environmental norms.

A pet project of BDA, the 6.72-km, six-lane steel flyover between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal is meant to decongest traffic.

Business Standard lists five things to know about the Rs 2,000-crore steel flyover project.

1. What’s at stake?

The flyover, which will cost around Rs 2,000 crore, will involve uprooting 812 trees, and some heritage structures might also get ravaged. Also, environment experts say the steel bridge will increase the temperature by one or two degrees in India's coolest city, given that the material absorbs heat and releases it back in its surroundings.

2. Green cover

Once known as the garden city, Bengaluru's green cover has dwindled and the city is getting hotter by the day. In the 1800s, the average temperature in summers used to be 14-16 degrees Celsius. Today, it is normal for the city’s temperature to reach 38 degrees.

3. The population burden

While the indiscriminate felling of trees to build technology parks, malls and multi-storied offices and residential complexes has shrunk the city's green zone, the outsourcing and start-up boom has attracted a large number of professionals to the city, adding to its population burden.

4. Loss of trees 
 

People are most concerned about the environmental impact the flyover will have. While BDA has said it would plant 60,000 saplings to compensate for the loss of trees, environmentalists are not convinced. They allege the saplings are ornamental plants and will not make up for the trees felled.

5. What’s the priority?

Citizens Against Steel Flyover, a group formed by Namma Bengaluru Foundation, is mobilising people via social media platforms to protest against the flyover. Instead of building a flyover to ease traffic woes, the forum has sought a suburban railway system using the existing rail network, more buses, lower fares, and speeding up of work on the metro system.