Bengaluru: Reacting to the controversy that he and his brother, Chief Minister Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy had given their consent to Union Surface Transport Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari to open the Bandipur road during the night, PWD Minister H.D. Revanna said that the issue was before the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court has set up a committee comprising Chief Secretaries of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the issue. The decision of the committee and Supreme Court is final in this regard. My opinion or other opinions do not matter,'' he added.
When asked if he had given his consent for the proposal of the Union Minister, Mr Revanna said that they had made a proposal to build some elevated roads. The minister also said the work on converting Bengaluru-Mysuru four-lane road into an expressway will begin next month. Speaking to reporters here on Friday, he said that NHAI had already finalised the contractor, who was ready to start work when the land acquisition was complete.
To start the work, the contractor needs at least 80% of the land in hand. At the moment, the government has acquired 72% of the land and the remaining eight per cent would be acquired this month and would be handed over to the contractor. Besides, the contractor had issue of Service Tax, which was at 12.5%, which they wanted it to be reduced to 2.5 per cent.
The State government issued the order within fifteen days, which was admired even by Center, Mr Revanna said. Reacting sharply to the allegations that the construction of the elevated road around Bengaluru had been hijacked by him by bringing it under PWD, Mr Revanna said that the decision was taken two years ago by then PWD Minister Dr H.C. Mahadevappa and Bengaluru City Minister Mr K J George.
