MLA Arvind Bellad raising a point during a meeting of stakeholders on the proposed ERT project in Dharwad on Monday. Labour Minister Santosh Lad and MLA Mahesh Tenginakai are seen.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

HESS India, which has signed an MoU with the State government for introducing Electric Rapid Transit (ERT) between Hubballi and Dharwad, will submit a detailed project report (DPR) at its own expense in another two months, Labour Minister and district in-charge Santosh Lad has said.

Speaking at a meeting of stakeholders in Dharwad on Monday, Mr. Lad said that ERT has been proposed as a solution to the problems being faced because of the existing BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System). HESS India will be making modifications in its plan by incorporating the suggestions from elected representatives, local officials and the general public and then finalise the DPR.

The Minister clarified that it is a project on Public-Private Partnership model and the DPR will be prepared by HESS India spending its own resources.

“Already, an MoU has been signed between the State government and the company on finalising and submitting the DPR in three months. Already, a month has passed and the first round of meeting of stakeholders has been held to get suggestions. Some of them have already been incorporated and others will be incorporated to redress the problems,” he said.

Making a power point presentation on ERT project between the twin cities, officials from HESS India Praveen Kumar and Srinivas Chakravarthy spoke about the modified plan between UAS Dharwad and Hubballi Railway Station.

They said that there will be an elevated path of 14 km and the remaining 10 km will be at grade with the existing road.

In addition, there will be underpasses of around 2 km, they said and added that once the project is implemented, 75% of the existing BRTS corridor will be available for mixed traffic.

After getting details about the project, some of the stakeholders raised issues that are being faced in the existing BRTS corridor and wanted the company officials to keep them in mind while finalising the DPR.

The stakeholders raised the issue of waterlogging, problems at junctions like JSS College, Jubilee Circle, Navalur, Kittur Chennamma Circle and other points.

Some of them pointed out that a rosy picture was given during a similar meeting while implementing BRTS and they did not want the ERT project to end up in the same fashion.

As more number of people raised BRTS problems instead of giving suggestions on ERT project, Mr. Lad lost his cool at one point and appealed to the participants to come up with constructive suggestions to redress the existing problems rather than just complaining.

Residents of Navalur raised a valid point on the existing problems because of the flyover on the BRTS corridor and wanted the officials to address the issue while designing the ERT project.

Giving his suggestions, Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA Arvind Bellad emphasised on the need for avoiding flyovers at junctions as it will kill local trade and business. He also underscored the need for addressing the issue of waterlogging.

Hubballi-Dharwad Central MLA Mahesh Tenginakai sought to know whether mixed traffic can be totally avoided on the ERT corridor and whether an elevated path can be extended to bypass traffic junctions.

Replying to the queries raised by the participants, the company officials clarified that the elevated path will facilitate more space for mixed traffic and as a 25-m-long and 250-passenger capacity e-vehicles will be deployed, emission will be zero.

They also clarified that with ERT the speed of the vehicles on the mixed traffic lanes will also decrease as the number of signals will come down drastically.

Mr. Lad told the stakeholders that there will be a few more consultations before the final DPR is got ready. The authorities will incorporate suggestions given by them, he added.

MLC Saleem Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu G.R.J., NWKRTC Managing Director Priyanga M., HD-BRTS Managing Director Savitri Kadi, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Bhuvanesh Patil, Superintendent of Police Gopal Byakod, Deputy Commissioner of Police Raveesh C.R., President of Karnatak Vidyavardhak Sangha Chandrakanth Bellad and representatives of various organisations were present.