Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said additional work amounting to ₹158.81 crore will be taken up on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway from November this year.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the expressway in Mandya on Saturday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is scheduled to begin the additional work covering the pending work related to service roads, bypasses, exit and entry points after securing the necessary approvals.
“A proposal for ₹158.81 crore has already been submitted”, he said. The works are expected to be completed by March next year.
Mr Siddaramaiah said expressway had been opened for traffic hastily without completing all the work including road safety measures. Noting that the expressway witnessed a number of accidents, Mr. Siddaramaiah said speed detectors had been installed and the number of accidents had come down from 20 during June to five during July 5.
The safety measures including cameras that had been installed on the expressway will not only detect the speed of the vehicles, but also capture other violations pertaining to lane discipline, driving without seat belt and driver on call. The police will act on the traffic violations taking place on the expressway.
The speed detectors had been installed at two places on the expressway, but Mr Siddaramaiah made out a case for installing the speed detectors at a distance of every ten kilometres in a bid to reduce the number of accidents.
With regard to the complaint on start of toll collection even before completing the work, Mr Siddaramaiah said it was not the State Government, but NHAI that collects the toll. However, he assured to take up the issue with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari when he meets him in New Delhi.
Minister for Agriculture N Cheluvarayaswamy, who is also the Minister in-charge of Mandya district, said the previous BJP government should have taken interest in the expressway and ensured that all the pending works were completed. “But, the expressway was hastily inaugurated”, he said. Now, the Congress government will follow it up with the NHAI to ensure that all the pending works including the safety measures on the expressway are taken up and completed.
The proposal of NHAI for taking up additional work is expected to receive approval in the next one or two months and will be taken up in October-November.
