The decision to change the alignment of the Namma Metro line connecting Byappanahalli and Whitefield in Phase 2 is expected to cost some information technology park owners in the Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) dear.
The line that was to pass through land belonging to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) in the original plan, at the junction of Doddanekundi Industrial Area and the EPIP, was realigned after the BMTC expressed its inability to spare the land, documents available with The Hindu reveal.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) Managing Director N. Sivasailam, in a letter (June 5, 2010), asked the then BMTC Managing Director, Syed Zameer Pasha, to stop work at the junction. “BMRCL is proposing to extend the metro from Byappanahalli to Whitefield and the detailed survey is in progress. It is seen that BMTC is putting up a structure, which will infringe the proposed Metro alignment,” he said. He also provided the sketch to the BMTC, which shows the line going over the BMTC property.
However, Mr. Pasha pointed out that the BMTC had 3 acres of land in Doddanekundi where it had been operating Bus Depot 18 since February 12, 2001. “Under the JNNURM scheme, BMTC has taken up Traffic and Transit Management Centre (TTMC) in the said land that includes a bus depot, a bus station, a multi-level car parking facility and commercial space at an estimated cost of Rs. 40 crore. The construction has already been completed, except for plastering work.” Further, his letter said that the BMTC was unable to consider the request. “BMRCL may re-examine the feasibility of metro alignment without disturbing the TTMC building.”
The owners of the information technology parks, who will now be affected, said that following this, BMRCL chose to change the alignment. “We have been operating our facilities since 2000 when the EPIP was formed. Why should we be affected for no fault of ours? The detailed project report now has outlined part of our buildings that are worth several crores of rupees.”
