PM to lay foundation stone

PM to lay foundation stone
Deccan HErald

Will it be the Metro rail or the monorail first? With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who accorded Cabinet clearance for the much-awaited Bangalore Metro rail project, scheduled to lay the foundation stone on June 24, the answer is quite clear.

Will it be the Metro rail or the monorail first? With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who accorded Cabinet clearance for the much-awaited Bangalore Metro rail project, scheduled to lay the foundation stone on June 24, the answer is quite clear.

The work on the monorail, pitched as a feeder service to the Metro project, which also received the Union Cabinet’s clearance, is scheduled to start on August 15.

The prime minister, on a two-day visit to Karnataka, will also lay the foundation stone for the long-pending Rs 23,000-crore petrochemical complex of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Mangalore on June 23. He will also attend a function of the Canara Bank and bring out a coin on Basaveshwara, the 12th-century social reformer.

The Metro foundation stone laying ceremony is proposed at Byapanahalli from where an elevated line to Cubbon Park under the first phase of the project with 192 columns is planned. On Saturday, the prime minister is expected to inaugurate a six-lane elevated highway between the Central Silk Board junction and Electronic City on Hosur Road. Built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), it is the second such project proposed after the National Highway-7 project on Jalahalli Cross-Nelamangala Cross section of National Highway 4 (Tumkur Road) and is jointly funded by the Union and State governments.

Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy will inaugurate the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s (BMRCL) new office premises on the third floor of the BMTC building in Shantinagar on June 24. Mr Reddy played a crucial role in the Cabinet clearance for the Metro project and Chief Minister Kumaraswamy sought permission from him to borrow funds from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation for infrastructure projects in Bangalore, during his recent visit to New Delhi.

According to sources, a rehabilitation package for land acquisition to initiate the Metro process has been submitted to government.