A spoke in Metro wheel

A spoke in Metro wheel
CM’s Office Stops Acquisition Of 150 Properties
The Times of India

Bangalore: The chief minister’s office on Thursday ordered a halt to land measurement, acquisition and survey of 150 properties on Kuvempu Road in Malleswaram, putting a question mark over the Bangalore Metro Rail project. A letter to this effect, signed by the CM’s principal secretary S V Ranganath, was sent to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation office.

The order was issued based on a memorandum submitted by a delegation led by BJP’s Pramila Nesargi. The order says until the CM inspects the properties, the BMRC should not take any decision on the acquisition.

The affected parties in the case appealed to the CM to stop the acquisition. They said Monorail would be a better system for Bangalore.

This is independent of the demand of the CMH Road residents and traders who are demanding that the alignment be changed to go along Old Madras Road.

Reacting to Thursday’s development, Union urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy and urban development secretary Anil Baijal wondered if the state government is rethinking on the project. BMRC MD K N Shrivastava had briefed Reddy on the progress of the project the day he was shunted out. The same day, Reddy had agreed to get Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) clearance for the project.

Another development of concern is the communication from the Japan Bank for Industrial Cooperation that if the mandatory CCEA clearance does not come through by

March-end, the Metro Rail project can forget the promised loan of Rs 1,200 crore for one year. The Indian ambassador in Tokyo is scheduled to sign the loan agreement on behalf of the government of India with the Japanese government on March 28. Without CCEA clearance, he will not be able to go ahead.

Some of the reasons cited for Shrivastava’s transfer are that the CM’s office was not kept informed of the logo change; the campaign against him by Monorail promoters. The CM’s office postponed the function to move the BMRC into a new building just an hour before Shrivastava’s transfer. It was felt that CM’s participation would have been a commitment to continue Shrivastava. Shrivastava is on record he kept the CM’s office informed of the change in logo.
Shrivastava handed charge to V Madhu on Thursday.