For PM Modi’s 1-day Bengaluru visit, BBMP spent ₹23 crore on roads

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Bengaluru on Monday (June 20) to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple rail and road infrastructure projects worth over ₹27,000 crore. And, for PM’s one-day visit to the Karnataka capital, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) spent a whopping ₹23 crore to develop a 14-km stretch of road, according to a report.

To give Bengaluru a new look, BBMP asked its personnel to work day and night for the last one week to ensure that the 14-km road length which Modi travelled on got a makeover, a Bangalore Mirror report said on Wednesday (June 22).

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According to BBMP, ₹2.06 crore was spent to give a facelift to 2.4 km of Kempegowda International Airport Road, ₹1.55 crore for 0.9 km of Tumakuru Road, ₹6.05 crore for 3.06 km of Bangalore University Road, ₹35 lakh for 0.15 km of Mysuru Road and ₹11.5 crore for upgrading a seven-kilometre stretch of Kommaghatta Road, it added.

“It is our duty to fix the roads which the PM is visiting. The amount for the road works was drawn from the BBMP Chief Commissioner’s discretionary quota. Prior permission was also taken from Rakesh Singh, who is the BBMP Administrator as well as the Additional Chief Secretary to the Urban Development Department,” BBMP’s Special Commissioner Ravindra P N was quoted as saying in the report.

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“As per the upgradation project, the roads were asphalted along with the service roads (wherever available), the medians were cleaned and beautified, kerb stones were painted and street lights were fixed. We took up the project one week before the PM’s visit so that all the works were completed before he arrived,” he added.

Reacting to BBMP’s decision to take up road works where VVIPs visit, several citizens questioned the civic agency and urged it to make all roads in the city pothole-free.

During his visit to Bangalore, PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple rail and road infrastructure projects. He also inaugurated the Centre for Brain Research and laid the foundation stone for Bagchi Parthasarathy Multispeciality Hospital at IISc Bengaluru.

He also inaugurated a new campus of Dr. B R Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE) University and unveiled the statue of Ambedkar on the campus. He also dedicated the upgradation of 150 ITI as Technology hubs.