Laxman Rau boulevard canopy to make way for Metro Rail

Metro rail will not harm city roads, greenery: BMRTL
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL) has put to rest fears that the proposed metro rail project will take a toll on city roads and greenery.

Citizens had been apprehensive that they would have to endure traffic snarls during the construction of the partially-underground, partially-elevated system.

Entire roads would not be dug up while constructing the underground portion of the rail, BMRTL managing director M.K. Srivastava said. ``We will employ the tunnel boring method. A hole will be dug at one point and the workers will continue to bore a tunnel at a safe depth. Traffic moving over it will not be affected.''

The rail will be underground for 6.7 km for the areas in and around Majestic, the central point. This includes K.R. Market, Chickpet, K.G. Road, Swastik, City Railway Station and Cubbon Park.

With an exception of a 0.6-km stretch at grade level, the rest of the route, around 29 km, will be elevated.

There were fears that the elevated route would result in the felling of several trees, reducing the city's already rapidly diminishing foliage. Residents of Jayanagar, where the rail will be elevated, were especially worried that their pride, the long stretch of N. Lakshman Rau Boulevard on the entire IV Main from South End Circle upto Rajalakshmi Kalyan Mantap, would be destroyed to make way for metro rail stations. However, BMRTL has assured that this will not be the case.

The stations too will be elevated, with steps provided from across the footpath, Srivastava said. ``One of the main objectives of metro is to reduce the pollution in the city, so one of our prime concerns is to preserve its greenery. The Lakshman Rau Boulevard has been around for a long time and we will certainly not be harming it.'' The avenue, though, will lose its cool canopy, as the long line of rain trees will have their branches chopped.

THE X-FACTOR

Passersby would have noticed that many of the trees on either side of roads in the city, especially on R.V and K.G. Roads, have been marked with a distinct white ``X'' mark. This is no Ali Baba story but just a traffic decongestion measure. The traffic police have identified around 90 trees in the city whose branches obstruct traffic. The BCC has painted the crosses on these trees marked for pruning.