Govt lethargy irks panel on Metro Rail alignment

Govt lethargy irks panel on Metro Rail alignment
Vijay Times

The government indifference in making public the recommendations of the three-member expert committee examining the Metro Rail alignment on CMH Road in Indiranagar has not gone down well with the committee.

Speaking out for the first time since Vijay Times reported that the panel had recommended the CMH Road alignment for the Metro Rail, committee chairman Justice Shivashankar Bhat said the delay was "depressing".

"We have done our duty. It is for the government to decide whether or not to implement it. We will not ask why the government is adopting this approach. It definitely saddens me. Earlier, the committee submitted its resignation after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy announced the project will be built only on the available government land. Later, he himself, in a letter, requested us to continue, otherwise we would have washed our hands off the project." The committee accepted the offer only in public interest. "We have not requested even a rupee from the government. After all the effort and time put in by the committee, we find the report ignored. Amidst all this controversy, business establishments on CMH Road say lesser land can be acquired on Old Madras Road. This is also not true. Either way, the government will have to rehabilitate affected parties," he opined.

He concluded that any project will achieve success only with the cooperation of the people.

Imtiaz Ahmed, president, CMH Road Traders and Establishments Association, said the delay in making the report public is a result of politics.

The expert committee was formed during Dharam Singhs chief-ministership to study how the Metro Rail project would affect the traders and residents of the area and how it could be minimised.

While traders and residents demanded a change in alignment to the Old Madras Road route, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporations initial blueprint involved an alignment on CMH Road, where hundreds of commercial establishments stand.