BJP leader Ashoka terms tunnel road project as ‘environmental disaster'
With this project, he alleged that the Congress-led government in the state plans to plough through Bengaluru's most iconic heritage zones and lung spaces - Lalbagh, Palace Grounds, St John's Hospital, Race Course, and Hebbal - by digging 100-ft deep shafts to launch giant tunnel boring machines. 'This isn't urban mobility. It's urban mutilation,' he said.
Criticising the project, Ashoka, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly, said the people of Bengaluru deserve better, not 'ego tunnels' for a few, but clean air, green spaces, and real, equitable public transport.
'This is not development. This is environmental vandalism masquerading as infrastructure, and Congress-backed betrayal of a city already on the brink. There is loot at the end of this tunnel!,' he said in a post on 'X'.
According to a Cabinet decision, the tunnel road will cost Rs 17,780 crore, and it will be implemented under modified Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model. The twin tunnel will run from Hebbal's Esteem Mall Junction to Silk Board Junction, covering 16.745 km.
'DCM @DKShivakumar's tunnel road project is not just an environmental disaster, it's a monument to political arrogance, ego, and corruption,' he stated. Questioning the 'deafening silence' of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and that of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge over the project, the BJP leader further said, 'This is the same Rahul Gandhi who raised a hue and cry over environmental concerns in Aarey (Maharashtra) and Hasdeo Aranya (Chhattisgarh). But when his ownparty's Deputy CM is ploughing through Bengaluru's ecology, he suddenly looks away. Why the hypocrisy?.'
Targeting the Congress leaders, Ashoka asked, 'If Rahul's environmental concern were reserved only for BJP-ruled states? Or is that the Congress High Command is getting a cut in this crore worth tunnel road project deal? 'Has their silence been purchased through contracts, commissions, and legacy politics? There is loot at the end of this tunnel!'
Recently, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya slammed Shivakumar for pursuing an unscientific 'vanity' tunnel road project in the city, claiming that it would only serve the elite while burdening the common man. He urged the state government to abandon the plan and instead invest in expanding public transport infrastructure, warning that the tunnel project could worsen the city's traffic situation.
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