Will tunnel road project in Bengaluru go the steel bridge way? Citizens petition NGT, urge to declare the project 'unlawful'

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notice to the Karnataka government and agencies over the contentious twin tunnel road project following a petition by civil society groups that call the Rs 19,000-crore project as "flawed, unsustainable, redundant and politically-driven".

The NGT, in its first hearing on Wednesday, issued notices to the state government, Greater Bengaluru Authority, Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, Bangalore Smart Infrastructure Ltd. (B-SMILE), Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and the project consultants and posted the next hearing on November 3. The civil society groups have urged the tribunal to declare the project as unlawful, quash the tender process and direct its complete cancellation to prevent irreversible ecological harm and protect the constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment.

The citizen movement opposing the "hasty and flawed" tunnel road project is reminiscent of the 2017 'Steel Bridge Beda' (We dont want steel bridge) campaign that ultimately led to the government aborting the proposed project.

The contentious project

The Bengaluru Tunnel Road Project (North-South Corridor) —a 16.7-km long underground corridor from Hebbal (Esteem Mall Junction) to Central Silk Board junction, is proposed to have multiple entry and exit points and slated for completion in three years.

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya also joined the chorus criticising the project and said it was "unscientific" and a misuse of taxpayer money. "The DPR has ignored Bengaluru’s Master Plan 2031 and failed to coordinate with Metro phases 2B and 3A. It only prioritises real estate development over traffic management," alleged Surya. 

This time, the Bengaluru Praja Vedike and others, in their petition have stated that the state government, in May last year, had "hastily" announced the project in the budget sans any credible technical assessment or support in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan 2020. 

"The proposal is politically driven and despite two failed expressions of interest, it was retrofitted into a feasibility study through procedural manoeuvring," they added. 

Is DPR flawed?

The petitioners submitted that the state cabinet, on May 22, 2025, had approved the construction of a 16.74-km-long twin-tube tunnel from Hebbal junction to Silk Board, at an estimated cost of Rs 19,000 crore, under the Build-Operate-Transfer model. A Special Purpose Vehicle - Bangalore Smart Infrastructure Ltd. (B-SMILE) was also created and the detailed project report (DPR) was prepared by Rodic Consultants in in three months. However, the DPR had factual errors, incomplete annexures and omissions of essential studies such as site-specific geological surveys, hydrological and flood-risk mapping, biodiversity assessment and tree enumeration.

"The traffic modelling (in DPR) has excluded major vehicle categories, and this leads to underestimating emissions. The key junctions would remain congested as ever,” the petitioners stated.

Environment disaster?

Raising concern over the proposed alignment of the project, the petitioners noted that the alignment passed through ecologically sensitive and legally protected areas, including the Peninsular Gneiss at Lal Bagh, Hebbal Valley’s storm water corridor and the critically polluted Peenya Industrial Area. These zones face high risk of groundwater depletion, soil instability and aggravated flooding, the petition read.

Geologist Dr D Paramesha Naik of Bangalore University had raised concerns over the geological challenges, including hard rock formations and groundwater disruption that could compromise tunnel stability and impact water sources. Some experts predicted that the tunnel project could worsen the flooding situation in the city.

Did state government ignore IISc report?

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in its report, has cited that the project will cause a major shift from public to private transport vehicles, which in turn would increase exhaust emissions and fossil fuel use and exacerbate climate vulnerabilities. Statutory agencies like the Directorate of Urban Land Transport have confirmed that the project contradicts Bengaluru’s approved mobility and climate policies and called for alternatives instead. 

"The agencies have bypassed the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), ignored public consultation and relied on a technicality that tunnels are not explicitly listed under the 2006 EIA notification to evade clearance. However, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had recently mandated that all tunnel road projects must obtain environmental clearance. This tendency also mirrors past unlawful practices as in case of the 2017 steel flyover (bridge) case," argued petitioners.

Kathyayini Chamaraj, executuive trustee of Civic Bangalore, one of the petitioners said, "We are happy that NGT has taken note of our petition against the ill-conceived, ill-planned, uneconomical and environmentally disastrous tunnel road project which incentivises 24 lakh private cars of Bengaluru (2.8 per cent of the State's population). Despite the scientists clarifying that a tunnel road would not decongest the road, the authorities are going ahead with it instead of investing the same amount on public transport. The project will steal an exorbitant Rs 40,000 crore of the state funds, depriving the rest of Bengaluru and Karnataka their share of development funds."

Overlap of multiple projects

Most importantly, the petitioners have pointed out that the tunnel road project’s "redundancy" as the proposed Blue Line of Namma Metro corridor connects Central Silk Board to Kempegowda International Airport via Hebbal. 

"The Metro train offers more sustainable, easily accessible, inclusive and environmental alternative,” the petition stated.

Urban planners and Bengaluru Residents Welfare Associations have criticised the “car-centric” development projects and have advocated for metro systems in place of the tunnels as the former offers higher passenger capacity. The Bengaluru Bus Commuters Forum has sought investments in public transportation, expansion of bus fleet and metro services, instead of high-cost projects like the tunnel road.

Incidentally, the entire tunnel road project is estimated to cost Rs 40,000 crore - the 18-km-long North-South corridor connecting Hebbal to Central Silk Board and the 28-km-long East-West tunnel connecting KR Puram with Nayandahalli (Mysore- road). However, only phase 1 has been approved by the cabinet for now.

A repeat of steel-bridge beda campaign?

It may be recalled that civic activism in 2017 had led to stalling of te Steel Flyover (often called “Steel Bridge”) project - a 6.7 km elevated corridor project to connect Chalukya Circle (near Raj Bhavan) to Hebbal flyover, to ease traffic towards Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

The project estimated to cost Rs 1,791 crore was being pushed by the then Siddaramaiah government to be implemented by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). 

In October 2016, when the government fast-tracked approvals without public consultation, a coalition of citizens including activists, architects, and environmentalists came together to oppose it citing ecological damage, loss of Bengaluru’s green cover (as 2,200 trees were to be felled), lack of transparency (as DPR was not made public) and inflated costs and corruption. 

The protest started on social media, spilled on to the streets with a massive human chain of 10,000 people shouting “Steel Flyover Beda”. 

The citizens aso filed petitions in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and High Court of Karnataka challenging the project. Then Governor Vajubhai Vala refused to approve felling of trees near Raj Bhavan, citing heritage and security concerns. In March 2017, the NGT ordered a status quo, halting tree felling until a proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and clearances were obtained.

By March 2017, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah officially announced that the steel flyover project was being scrapped due to “lack of public support” and to explore "alternative" mobility solutions. 

This time too, the citizens group have launched a signature campaign labelling the project as "unconstitutional" for bypassing essential planning bodies like the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA), besides petitioning NGT. 

The civil society is opposing the tunnel road project raising concerns similar to those of the stalled steel bridge project.