BBMP will spend 30L to paint underpasses

Three underpasses that have turned an eyesore with paintings fading away and sculptures being chipped away in the central part of the city will get a face lift: The BBMP has ordered painting of the walls.

The underpasses are the one near Windsor Manor on Sankey Road,that near Cauvery Theatre and the one at Mehkri Circle on Bangalore International Airport (BIA) Road.They will be painted at a cost of Rs 30 lakh.Interestingly,this was one of the files cleared by BBMP commissioner Rajneesh Goel before he went on leave.

But questions have been raised by corporators about Goels beautification drive as it comes at a time when these netas are crying hoarse over lack of funds for implementing development works in their wards.

The BBMPs road infrastructure department had proposed to take up painting work and small repair works at the Cauvery junction underpass and Windsor Manor underpass by spending Rs 15.75 lakh.Another proposal was made to paint and repair the Mehri Circle underpass at a cost of Rs 17.50 lakh.As soon as the file was sent to the commissioner,he approved them.

When contacted,road Infrastructure departments superintendent K T Nagaraj said,We have to take up the maintenance work of the underpasses to keep them fit.We have to paint them and take up repairs.We will be using anti-carbonate paint on the structures to prevent dust from settling. 

BJP ruling party leader in the council,N Nagaraju alleged that Goel had not accorded priority to works related to the common people.Approving the painting work at underpasses is not at all necessary when works like pothole filling and garbage disposals are priority. 

The citys first magic box underpass at Cauvery junction was built in 2008 using cost-effective technology in 35 days by spending Rs 1.5 crore.The Mehkri Circle underpass was constructed by BDA in 1999.