Protests over Metro Rail alignment not justified'

Protests over Metro Rail alignment not justified'
S Praveen Dhaneshkar, Bangalore:
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) now going ahead with the Namma Metro work on R V Road and Lalbagh, has found support from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL), that prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Bangalore Metro Rail, Phase I in 2003 in partnership with RITES.

Senior officials of DMRCL speaking to Deccan Herald from New Delhi said the whole issue of protests on the proposed alignment and station on a portion of the Lalbagh is amusing as it was approved by the State government years ago.

“The DPR was prepared after thorough study by experts from DMRCL, taking into consideration all aspects such as environment, traffic density, ridership, topography and geo-hydrological studies. Finally, DMRCL Chief Dr E Sreedharan came down from New Delhi and submitted the DPR to the then chief minister S M Krishna in the presence of chief secretary Dr A Ravindra on March 31, 2003. The DPR was approved by the then government on April 1. All concerns were taken into consideration. We had included the area of 1135.18 sq.mtrs for the Lalbagh station as other alternatives were not found to be feasible. Why is all the fuss happening after all these years,” sources in DMRCL said.

The Bangalore Metro Rail project finally took shape with the Karnataka government clearing the project in March, 2005 and the Union government according its approval in April, 2006. Officials also said the project and its alignment on all Reaches 1,2,3 and 4 are known to all the State governments that were in power from 2003.
“As consultants to the BMRCL, it was also suggested that the Delhi Metro model be followed in Bangalore and have the GoI (Government of India) as a equity partner in the project to ensure transparency and accountability in the project. So, each and every aspect was examined and cleared by the Centre as well,” officials explained.