Bengaluru, 29 Oct 

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Wednesday appealed to Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar to drop the tunnel road project in the City, a day after their meeting failed to achieve any significant breakthrough. 

Addressing a press conference in the City, the Bengaluru South MP claimed that for every Rs 1,000 crore spent on the tunnel road, only 1,800 car users could travel per hour per day, whereas the same investment in Metro Rail would benefit 69,000 passengers per hour every day.

"By building a Metro Rail network in the City, you can transport people 40 times more than those travelling in cars," he said.

"Instead of leaving a legacy, Shivakumar is leaving a scar on Bengaluru," he said. Surya warned that his party would challenge the project in court and also take to the streets in protest. "Our objective should be to move people and not vehicles. This tunnel road project, with an estimated cost of Rs 43,000 crore, will only choke Bengaluru and not offer any solution."

Surya claimed that an expert committee had said the proposed tunnel road would have at least 22 choke points.

He alleged that no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or even basic soil testing had been done.

He added that the government should shed the mindset that "only those with cars get married and have families," as Shivakumar had reportedly said. 

"The 45 lakh people travelling in City buses and 10 lakh people travelling in Metro trains got brides, they too got married, they have children and are leading happy married lives," the MP said.