Hebbal Metro Hub Scaled Back: BMRCL to Pursue Commercial Project on Reduced Land.

In a contentious move, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has drastically reduced its land requirement for the Namma Metro rail project at Hebbal, North Bengaluru, from an initial 45 acres to just 9 acres. This decision, made on Monday, reportedly came "buckling under pressure from political and real-estate lobbies."

The significant reduction in land will effectively nix plans for future infrastructure facilities crucial for metro operations, including a depot for trains and multi-level parking systems for commuters. Instead, the prime location at the vital transport hub is now slated for the development of high-rise commercial buildings, upscale residential facilities, and star hotels by private developers.

The revised proposal was cleared at a high-power committee meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh. Despite BMRCL's earlier strong request for 45 acres from the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to establish a comprehensive transport hub, the corporation performed a sudden U-turn. Interestingly, the high-power committee reportedly saw little need for discussion on the potential impact of allocating such prime land to realtors, simply directing BMRCL to approach KIADB for the transfer of the reduced 9 acres.

The decision has drawn sharp criticism from urban planners, mobility experts, and even a senior IAS officer who termed it a "retrograde step." The officer warned, "At a time when future-thinking cities are saving land for public use, a section of politicians, bureaucrats and realtors in the already traffic-choked tech capital is doing the opposite. Just imagine this scenario in the next two years when the metro line to airport becomes operational: You will not have place to park your car at Hebbal station even if you want to take a train from there. At the receiving end will be ordinary commuters."

Former minister and Rajajinagar MLA Suresh Kumar, a vocal opponent of handing over public land to real-estate players, lamented that "the long-term interests of the city are being compromised."

A year ago, BMRCL had explicitly requested 45 acres from the government, even offering over ₹500 crore in compensation for the land. This land was acquired by KIADB more than two decades ago for a tourism project that never materialized. At that time, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Industries Minister MB Patil had publicly affirmed that the land would be allocated to support the city's growing transit needs.

The sudden reversal by BMRCL has alarmed experts who caution that shrinking the land footprint could severely limit the project’s capacity to support multi-modal integration, essential parking, and other crucial commuter amenities. When contacted for comment on the decision to scale down the land request, BMRCL Managing Director Maheshwar Rao declined to respond.