Tejasvi Surya opposes Bengaluru tunnel road, calls it unscientific solution
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya opposed the Karnataka government's Bengaluru tunnel road project after its launch. He said the plan would deepen planning failures and that Metro expansion is the better answer.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has opposed the Karnataka government’s proposed tunnel road project in Bengaluru, calling it an “unscientific solution” that will not solve the city’s traffic problems. His remarks came after Chief Minister D K Shivakumar launched the three-lane twin tunnel road project from Mehkri Circle to Hebbal Junction and said it was part of the government’s long-term plan to strengthen infrastructure and ease travel for commuters.
In a post on X, the Bengaluru South MP said the Rs 1,139-crore, 2-km project was flawed from the start. “Mr Chief Minister, you have not laid a foundation stone today. You have laid the tombstone of scientific urban planning in Bengaluru,” Surya said, while reiterating his opposition to both the short tunnel and the larger tunnel road proposal.
Surya said the government’s own Detailed Project Report showed that the tunnel would be saturated from the first day of operation. “Not five years later. Not ten years later. Day One. If the project’s own report says it will begin its life in a traffic jam, then who exactly is this project for? Certainly not commuters,” he said.
He further claimed that the project was being seen as one that would help only a small section of people.
“This project seems designed to make life easier for a privileged few, the VIPs of Sadashivanagar, including the CM and the city’s elite who use this corridor to reach the airport, while ordinary taxpayers across Bengaluru foot the bill,” he said. Surya also alleged that the main beneficiaries would be contractors, who, according to him, would “reroute large kickbacks to the Congress’s funds.”
The MP said the government should instead focus on public transport and speed up the proposed Red Line Metro corridor. “If the government genuinely wanted to reduce congestion, it would have fast-tracked the Red Line Metro. Public transport is the only proven long-term solution for Bengaluru. Flyovers have failed. Tunnels will fail too,” he said.
He also questioned the government’s stand, saying Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had repeatedly argued that short flyovers could not solve congestion. “Then how does a short tunnel suddenly become the answer? Bengaluru deserves an explanation. If the minister cannot stand up to oppose such unscientific projects, then nothing has changed in the city’s approach to development,” he said.
Reaffirming his stand against the wider tunnel road plan, Surya said, “We will oppose every such attempt. There is no question of allowing the proposed long tunnel through Bengaluru South.” He added that the city’s future lay in stronger mass public transport and better planning. “Bengaluru needs more Metro, more buses, better suburban rail and better urban planning, not expensive monuments to failed thinking,” he said.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has opposed the Karnataka government’s proposed tunnel road project in Bengaluru, calling it an “unscientific solution” that will not solve the city’s traffic problems. His remarks came after Chief Minister D K Shivakumar launched the three-lane twin tunnel road project from Mehkri Circle to Hebbal Junction and said it was part of the government’s long-term plan to strengthen infrastructure and ease travel for commuters.
In a post on X, the Bengaluru South MP said the Rs 1,139-crore, 2-km project was flawed from the start. “Mr Chief Minister, you have not laid a foundation stone today. You have laid the tombstone of scientific urban planning in Bengaluru,” Surya said, while reiterating his opposition to both the short tunnel and the larger tunnel road proposal.
Surya said the government’s own Detailed Project Report showed that the tunnel would be saturated from the first day of operation. “Not five years later. Not ten years later. Day One. If the project’s own report says it will begin its life in a traffic jam, then who exactly is this project for? Certainly not commuters,” he said.
He further claimed that the project was being seen as one that would help only a small section of people.
“This project seems designed to make life easier for a privileged few, the VIPs of Sadashivanagar, including the CM and the city’s elite who use this corridor to reach the airport, while ordinary taxpayers across Bengaluru foot the bill,” he said. Surya also alleged that the main beneficiaries would be contractors, who, according to him, would “reroute large kickbacks to the Congress’s funds.”
The MP said the government should instead focus on public transport and speed up the proposed Red Line Metro corridor. “If the government genuinely wanted to reduce congestion, it would have fast-tracked the Red Line Metro. Public transport is the only proven long-term solution for Bengaluru. Flyovers have failed. Tunnels will fail too,” he said.
He also questioned the government’s stand, saying Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had repeatedly argued that short flyovers could not solve congestion. “Then how does a short tunnel suddenly become the answer? Bengaluru deserves an explanation. If the minister cannot stand up to oppose such unscientific projects, then nothing has changed in the city’s approach to development,” he said.
Reaffirming his stand against the wider tunnel road plan, Surya said, “We will oppose every such attempt. There is no question of allowing the proposed long tunnel through Bengaluru South.” He added that the city’s future lay in stronger mass public transport and better planning. “Bengaluru needs more Metro, more buses, better suburban rail and better urban planning, not expensive monuments to failed thinking,” he said.
