After Karnataka amends Bengaluru mobility law, BJP’s Tejasvi Surya writes to Governor

A day after the Karnataka Assembly passed an amendment to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) Act, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya Tuesday wrote to Governor Thawarachand Gehlot expressing his concerns about the law.

The BMLTA (Amendment) Bill, 2026, to amend Section 19 of the BMLTA Act of 2022, which came into force in 2023 after being introduced by the previous BJP government, was passed by the Karnataka legislature Monday without a debate.

“It has been reported that this provision would have the effect of retrospectively legitimising mega projects valued at nearly Rs 1 lakh crore, including the Tunnel Road Project, estimated to cost over Rs 40,000 crore, without the institutional scrutiny and due process envisaged under the BMLTA framework,” the BJP MP said in the letter to the Governor.

“The intent of the parent legislation enacted in 2022 cannot be retrospectively altered in a manner that defeats the safeguards and institutional oversight it was intended to establish,” Surya further contended. The amended BMLTA Act, 2026, which introduces a new Subsection 6 under Section 19, is seen as facilitating major Bengaluru infrastructure projects that had previously been criticised by BMLTA, like a 16.75 km-long city road tunnel project pushed by Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

According to the amended Section 19 of the BMLTA Act, “all projects initiated during the period commencing from the date of commencement of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Act, 2022 (Karnataka Act 6 of 2023) and ending immediately before the date of notification of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Rules, 2026… shall be deemed to have been taken, prepared, undertaken or instituted, as the case may be, under this Act.” The amendment is necessary “to ensure continuity in administrative decision-making in view of the imminent and pressing need to decongest traffic and address the mounting mobility challenges in Bengaluru,” the new law states in its statement of reasons.

Prior to the recent amendment, Section 19 of the BMLTA Act, 2022, said the BMLTA had the power “to approve all major Urban Transport projects proposed” for Bengaluru “from the perspective of consistency with the Comprehensive Mobility Plan” in a time-bound manner.

“No authority, agency, department under the state government shall initiate any public, private or public-private partnership project concerning Urban Mobility without obtaining prior approval of the Authority. The Approval of the Authority shall be necessary to seek any financial assistance…” from the state government, external aid agencies and the Centre, says Subsection 2 of Section 19 of the BMLTA Act of 2022.

The Bengaluru tunnel road project incidentally envisages 40 per cent government funding. The amended law is seen as also circumventing controversial rules issued by the BMLTA on January 3, 2026, to facilitate retrospective clearances for big-ticket Bengaluru mobility projects – flyovers, tunnel roads, etc – that did not undergo the due process of scrutiny and analysis by state urban mobility experts and agencies.

The law has come amid a challenge by citizens in the Karnataka High Court to the rules framed in January 2026. Last year, the BMLTA, in a review of the feasibility of the 16.75 km tunnel road project, had slammed the proposal – first floated by the then deputy CM and Bengaluru development minister D K Shivakumar – for allegedly not aligning with the Metro-centric Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Bengaluru, the city’s Climate Action Plan or the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP).

The BMLTA review of the tunnel road said the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Bengaluru targets a 70 per cent share for public transport by 2035 and that tunnel roads would encourage car-based commuting instead of usage of public transport.

One of the major criticisms of the proposed north-south tunnel road project in Bengaluru is the absence of a scientific travel demand assessment. The BMLTA said the feasibility study ignored interactions with other major infrastructure projects, such as Metro Phases 2A, 2B, 3, and 3A, suburban rail corridors, and the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) policy.