Turning the metro route verdant

Turning the metro route verdant
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The mammoth Bangalore Metro Rail project has slowly started moving on the tracks of progress, what with utility shifting and finalisation of via duct consultants underway. The actual construction is also scheduled to begin in the next few days.

However, officials at the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) are all set to dispel these fears by planning to ‘green up’ the metro rail route.

Officials said that this would be done by imaginative landscaping along the route and along the elevated portions. Though the exact specifications have not yet been thought out, the project will try to maintain the ‘green look’ that the Garden City bears.

Thousands of trees around the City have already been cut to make way for the project. While the environmentalists raised hue and cry over the environment impact, BMRCL has already planted 15,000 saplings around the City.

Sources at BMRCL said that the Forest Department, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) have been roped in to help plant and maintain the saplings.

The company has paid BMP Rs 8.10 lakh, BDA Rs 13.76 lakh and the Forest Department Rs 19.42 lakh to cover the cost of saplings, tree guard, maintenance, security and watering of the plants. This is for a period of three years.

All the species of plants that are being planted are those that will grow to a height of 8-10 feet. All the chosen species are those from which enormous benefits can be derived. The saplings that do not survive will be replaced suitably. However, planting of more saplings is not being planned immediately, added the sources.