Metro going BIAL way

not namma metro - State-of-art stations scrapped
BY R. JAYAPRAKASH
BENGALURU








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Brilliant architec ture, glass-steel facades, fountains, lawn, kiosks, escalators… the much touted features of Namma Metro stations on MG Road that were set to transform Bengaluru into the promised showpiece of the south.

Every Bengalurean who has picked his way through the dug up M.G. Road and its destroyed promenade in recent months has consoled himself with the thought that Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) would redo the entire stretch and bring the road back to its former glory.

Instead, Deccan Chronicle has learnt that at the end of 2009, what we will see is a series of stripped down, ordinary, functional stations. Namma Metro is going the Bengaluru International Airport way. Come Saturday, the BMRC board will meet and give its stamp of approval to the complete design turnaround strongly proposed by the BMRC which will see the earlier plan scrapped and the spared down reworked designs approved.

The metro rail authorities who faced much criticism for bulldozing the centuryold promenade with its green, leafy cover alongside the bustling M.G. Road had won the support of the media and public after they ran a sustained campaign where they claimed the much improved road would see elevated stations along with other aesthetic additions such as street furniture that recreates the quaint charm of old Bengaluru.

But with BMRC on cost saving mode, highly placed government sources said the authorities have scrapped the plan.