Residents say No to Elevated Metro

On KR Road & RV Road

Residents say No to Elevated Metro

Citizens of south Bangalore have petitioned Jayanagar MLA BN Vijayakumar complaining about construction of an elevated Metro along KR Road in Basavanagudi and RV Road in Jayanagar.
The petitioners expressed concern over the fact that the BMRCL has felled many beautiful trees along KR Road to accommodate the elevated railway system. "It is incongruous and inappropriate to construct an elevated Metro during the 21st century in a large metropolitan city like Bangalore with a population of 7 million (which is expected to reach 10 million in a couple of years) that too in important and busy roads like KR Road, RV Road etc in Basavanagudi, and Jayanagar extensions. Underground Metro was laid in the cities of Paris and London during the early part of the 20th century when the technology for tunneling had not developed to the extent that is available today. There is no justification whatsoever for BMRC to go in for an elevated metro in the busy parts of the city," the petition said.
They have appealed to the MLA about the inadvisability of establishing an elevated Metro system from the city market up to the end of the RV Road via KR Road and Vasavi Kalyana Mandir Road.
Apparently the initial cost might have been criterion to opt for the cheaper elevated Metro, but taking a short term view in this case is not correct and it is certain that the future generation will curse us for providing them with an outdated system. Even now, one can see how the elegance of MG Road, the most prestigious one in the city has been permanently spoilt by constructing on it an elevated Metro. It is necessary that such mistakes are not committed in the case of other important roads of our city.
Agreeing with the petitioners, Sri Vijayakumar said the explanation likely to be given by BMRCL would be that a) The cost of the project would go up as an underground metro is far more expensive and b) The implementation of the project would be delayed by a year or two if the scope is altered at this stage.
Explaining further, he told TWB that the cost per km of an underground Metro would be about Rs.250 crores as compared to Rs. 18O crores for an elevated system. This means that the extra cost for laying an underground system for a distance of about 4 km from city market up to the end of the RV Road would be about Rs. 400 crores, which is not significant considering the fact that the total project cost is likely to be more than Rs.l2000 crores. This extra expenditure is fully justified if one takes a long term view and consequent fare increases will also be insignificant because of this extra cost. It was also informed by the experts that this extra cost can be compensated to a considerable extent because

What needs to be done:
A. The route of the underground Metro can be taken along the shortest path thus reducing the overall length of the root by about a KM.
B. The additional revenue can be earned by establishing malls alongside the underground railway stations as is the practice in many countries
C. Reducing the width of the road for vehicular traffic in the case of elevated Metro because of concrete pillars is avoided. The cost of widening this road to restore the original carrying capacity could be several crores of rupees.
D. Soon after the elevated Metro is commissioned all the businesses along the roads will shift which will result in loss of revenue to the BBMP
E. The work in the case of underground metro can go on unhindered and the work can be completed in a shorter time thus saving the interest charges
F. Most importantly the elegance of the KR road and the RV road will not be destroyed
The situation is also not different of the northern side of the city viz. in Malleswaram and Seshadiripuram.

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