Karnataka Govt Eyes On Rs 40,000 Crore “Treasure” At The End Of The Tunnel Project, Alleges BJP MP
Bowing to public pressure, he said, the State Government assured to review the Karnataka Parks Conservation Amendment Bill and the BJP MP hoped that the Karnataka Parks Conservation Act remains unchanged.
BENGALURU: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Tejasvi Surya on Friday stated the State Government led by Congress party in Karnataka is obsessed with long and short tunnel projects in Bengaluru city setting its eyes allegedly on the Rs 40,000 crore “treasure” at the end of the tunnel project.
While setting its eyes on the “treasure” at the end of the tunnel project, Surya alleged the State Government amended Karnataka Parks Conservation Amendment Bill and also amended the Karnataka Tank Conservation Act to facilitate the tunnel road projects. The State Government stated the tunnel roads have been proposed to ease vehicular congestion in Bengaluru city.
Bowing to public pressure, he said, the State Government assured to review the Karnataka Parks Conservation Amendment Bill and the BJP MP hoped that the Karnataka Parks Conservation Act remains unchanged. The amendment to Karnataka Parks Conservation Amendment Bill, he said, was aimed at diversion/sale of 5 percent of Park area made legal in particular Sankey Tank, Lalbagh and Krishna Rao Park for the tunnel road project.
“The amendment was not only to facilitate tunnel road project but to overcome legal hurdles before the High Court,” Surya said and he asserted to continue fight against the Karnataka Tank Conservation Act amendment wherein the amendment has been affected specifically for the short tunnel road project proposed by the State Government via Hebbal Lake of Bengaluru.
Adding, he said, the amendment permits to reduce the lake's buffer zone from existing 30-meters to 3-meters which is as good as having no buffer at all. “The amendment applies to all lakes of the State and in Bengaluru city,” stated Surya and expressed fears that the reduction in buffer zones would kill lakes. Bengaluru city gets drinking water requirements that are met through borewells and the amendment will deplete groundwater and kill its aquifers.
Surya urged the State Government to withdraw the amendment to Karnataka Tank Conservation Act and assured “the fight will continue.”
The third amendment, he alleged the State Government sacrificed was scientific urban planning by bringing amendment to Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Bill, 2022.
Reacting to charge over Park land diversion, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar stated “Let tunnel road projects in Delhi and Maharashtra be halted.”