Delay in NICE land acquisition won’t affect our deadline: BMRCL.

Though delay in acquisition of NICE land for Phase II of Namma Metro has hit construction work, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is confident of commissioning the extended metro lines on Kanakapura Road and Mysuru Road within the stipulated deadline.

At Kanakapura Road, the BMRCL needs 856 square metres of NICE land to build a viaduct to the upcoming Anjanapura depot. On Mysuru Road, it requires 403 square metres of land to build an elevated line towards Challaghatta depot and metro station.

Delay in acquiring land has now forced the BMRCL to use the depot at Peenya (on Green Line) to commission the extended line on Kanakapura Road, and the depot at Baiyappanahlli (on Purple Line) to open the extended line on Mysuru Road.

Ajay Seth, MD, BMRCL, told The Hindu, “Delay in acquisition of land will have an impact on construction work, but not commissioning of the line per se. On Mysuru Road, we will be in a position to operate the metro till Kengeri. On Kanakapura Road, the entire line will be made operational.”

Eagerly awaited

Opening of these lines will help people in a big way. The Green Line will cover 6.290 km more in addition to the existing 24.20 km (from Nagasandra to Yelachenalli), and 6.465 km of metro network will be added to the Purple Line. The existing operational length of the Purple Line from Mysuru Road station to Baiyappanahalli is 18.10 km.

At present, the daily ridership of Namma Metro is over 4 lakh. The BMRCL is confident of getting more patronage for its services as it will be in a position to operate six coaches on the extended lines as well.

After enduring traffic snarls and dust for years because of metro work, the general public has demanded that BMRCL deliver on its promise of opening the lines on time.

Udaya Kumar, a metro passenger, said, “Travel time for passengers will come down drastically once the metro starts operations on the extended lines. During peak time, it take a long time to cover even short distances on Mysuru Road. People travelling towards Majestic and Whitefield will benefit once these lines become operational.”

Cloud over R.V. Road to Bommasandra line

The BMRCL needs around 4,000 square metres of NICE land to build an elevated metro corridor to Hebbagodi depot on the R.V. Road to Bommasandra section. Officials said that delay in acquisition of NICE land will have a far-reaching impact as the line cannot be made operational.

“The R.V. Road to Bommasandra is a new line under Phase II, and building a depot at Hebbagodi is crucial to servicing trains without which, we cannot operate the line,” said an official.

The BMRCL has set November 2021 as the deadline to operate this line, which is likely to benefit lakhs of people working in Electronics City. The line goes via Jayadeva junction and Silk Board.

On Tumakuru Road, the BMRCL needs around 6,000 square metres of land to build a metro station at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) and a viaduct.

THE HINDU