Soon you can drive to Kempegowda International Airport on a steel bridge

Bengaluru: The Cabinet on Wednesday gave its consent for the proposal to construct a steel bridge between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal Flyover to decongest traffic to the Kempegowda International Airport. The contract has been awarded to L&T and the project will cost around Rs 1791 crore. The work will begin immediately.

After the Cabinet meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra told reporters that the original estimated cost of the project was Rs 1,310 crore. However, L&T had quoted Rs 1,856 crore. After negotiations, the project was finalised at Rs 1,791 crore, he said.

At the moment, traffic moves slowly between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal flyover, as all vehicles heading to the airport use this road. The steel bridge will connect the Airport Road just after the Hebbal flyover near Esteem Mall, so that traffic to the airport is not stopped anywhere, he said.

Drought: The cabinet declared 68 taluks in 22 districts as drought hit. The government will extend drought relief to these districts, where parts of Malnad regions are also included, he said.

The Cabinet gave an approval for the ambitious plan of providing 1 kg toor dal to BPL cardholders at subsidised rates. This will cost Rs 300 crore to the exchequer, he said.