Bangalore Metro to hinder lazy walks on M G Road

Bangalore, Apr 11: As the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd gears up for a mid-April start of work on the 7-km first stretch (Reach 1, as it has been baptised) between MG Road and Byappanahalli, the promise of recreating an at-grade walkway, beneath the elevated stretch, has also been made.

But the experience of sauntering on the elevated ridge alongside the busy M G Road with a long, leafy enclave on one side, will be hard to replace, according to some old Bangaloreans.

While the experts point at global examples and call for an underground Metro stretch, their key area of concern is the non-participatory model adopted for implementation of the Metro.

"The global practice is to make the public participate in the implementation of mass rapid transit systems. Further, local expert esthetes are also called in for their suggestions," B S C Rao, former executive director, Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited, told sources.

Even the auto-rickshaw lane is also tipped to go, once work on the track kicks off. This could mean more mess than it can hope to handle for the M G Road.

Also while some experts point at the cost escalation involved in constructing an underground MRTS stretch, there's also the contention that the price is not all that high when viewed against the devastation involved in the present alignment.

"The project cost is bound to go up anyway. If that helps in sparing the City such devastation, why not?" asked Jayakar Jerome, former BDA Commissioner.

Related Stories