CMH Road traders seeks rerouting of Metro

Metro Rail cuts through Indiranagar CMH’s veins
Businessmen Of Elite Road Suggest Alternative Route, But Is The Government Listening?
Times of India


Indiranagar: The pulse of Indiranagar, CMH Road, with its 467 establishments, will be stopped when the Metro Rail project chugs off on the proposed route. The casualty, as CMH Road Traders’ Association sees it, is the route from Ulsoor Road to CMH Road to 100-ft Road to Old Madras Road. And they are up in arms, registering their protest.

The East-West corridor project starts from Byappanahalli and ends at NGEF, covering a distance of 18.1 km with 18 stations. Ever since the route and notification of land for acquisition have been made public, a section of people on CMH road and 100-ft road have been in touch with Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd (BMRTL) officials and chief secretary K.K. Mishra, suggesting an alternative. Their proposal is: Ulsoor Road to Old Madras Road via Adarsh theatre, avoiding CMH Road.

The contention is that the proposed route requires 179 properties or 2,48,511 sqmt but with the alternative route 55 properties or 7,56 sqmt can be saved. The CMH Road Traders’ Association president explains why this is advantageous and viable. “Compensation may be given to all those who’ve lost their land but this will be only for land owners. What about the other workers in every shop who are the breadwinners? CMH road is commercially more viable than Commercial Street. The alternative route, Ulsoor Road to Old Madras Road via Adarsh theatre, will have Rs 50 crore as savings in cost of acquisition of properties.’’

The traders are vexed that despite their pleas in mid-2003, they were assured by a letter from the government of Karnataka only in March this year: The proposed alignment is tentative and the points raised in the representation will be examined before taking a final decision at the time of sanction of the project. “They reply a year later with just this and now the project is in full steam without even telling us why the route we proposed is not feasible?’’ asks another trader.

Incidentally, the alternative suggested by the traders’ association is the same marked for ELRTS. So why is the route not a hit with authorities? Because CMH Road has grown in strength and sophistication, as insiders will tell you. Because the RITES (Rail India Techno Economic Services) survey points out that ridership will be lost by 25 per cent.

BMRTL executive director M.S. Nagendra explains, “We don’t have any malafide intention in taking people’s land, we are just trying to minimise the city’s problems. There is a burial ground near Adarsh theatre and on the left there is a military area coming up. Where CMH road ends, there is the Aeronautical Defence Establishment, which says they cannot spare the property for security reasons.’’ He adds that the gazette notification and identified land were already frozen in February this year.

Caveat: Elsewhere, for irrigation, entire villages were evacuated.