Bangalore Race Course to shifted to City’s outskirts

The 150-year-old Bangalore Race Course, located in the heart of the City, has been given a seventeen-month deadline to shift to a new location on the outskirts of the City.

Participating in the discussions in the on-going Budget session of the Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said the Government’s lease agreement with Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) that runs the Race Course expires on December 31, 2009. “The Government will not renew the agreement. By that time, the Race Course has to shift”, the Chief Minister said in categorical terms.

Yeddyurappa said that it had become inevitable for the Government to shift the Race Course from its present location as it was causing traffic congestion. Situated close to the bus stand, railway station and the Vidhana Soudha, the Bangalore Race Course, which attracts the glitterati from not only Bangalore but from other parts of India and abroad during racing season, occupies almost 70 acres of prime land.

Yeddyurappa was critical of the public works department for allowing races to be held year after year without signing any contract with the Bangalore Turf Club for the last 19 years. “Only after I took a firm stand recently that an agreement was signed. The agreement will come to an end on December 31, 2009. Come what may, the Bangalore Race Course will have to shift by then”, he said.

However, the management of Bangalore Turf Club management is hoping to delay the inevitable.

Bangalore Turf Club Chairman Jayant Shah told reporters that it was important for the Race Course to be situated in the City. “Today, the Bangalore Race Course is an international tourist attraction because of its strategic location. If too far away, it will defeat the purpose of a race course”, he said.

Though the Government had allotted land for the Race Course inYelahanka on the outskirts of the City, Shah said it takes a minimum of five to six years to set up a race course. “The track takes that long to settle”, he said.
“We have no qualms about moving to Yelahanka, but not that fast. The race course cannot stop functioning till the new one is ready”, he said.