Metro expected to clear all hurdles by March

Metro expected to clear all hurdles by March
New Indian Express

BNAGALORE: The Metro will get all clearances by March 15, officials expect. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Managing Director K N Srivastava said the clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) would be in by March 15.

Srivastava said on Wednesday he had met Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in Delhi and requested him to meet BMRCL by next week. Srivastava also said that the gauge controversy would end once the report of the Group of Ministers (GoM) was out on February 21.

Addressing a gathering of citizens at the National College, he said the ‘bhoomi’ puja for the Metro would be performed by the end of March.

“The GoM will have its meeting on February 21. They will decide on what gauge Bangalore should go for. The railways had initiated this gauge debate and they should not have interfered.

“Metro is a State subject and it is necessary to understand why Bangalore cannot have broad gauge. Bangalore has narrow roads and we if introduce broad gauge, we need a turning radius of 200 metres.

“This will result in property destruction and the standard gauge requires a turning radius of just 120 metres.”

The BMRTL will make a presentation next week.

“The Chief Minister has not confirmed the date of the meeting yet,” the Metro official said.

Srivastava assured citizens that the technology involved in the construction of the Metro would make sure that their lives were not disturbed. On objections to land acquisition, Srivastava said it could still be done with the KIADB.