After five years, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is finally likely to open the much-awaited Nagasandra to Madavara (formerly Bangalore International Exhibition Center – BIEC) line on Tumakuru Road by August.
The work on three kilometres on the fully elevated Green Line’s northern extension from Nagasandra, which began in 2017 and missed several deadlines set by the BMRCL, has now taken over five years to complete. The stretch was slated to be completed by mid-2019.
In January 2021, the BMRCL opened the extended line on the southern part of the Green Line from Yelachenahalli to Silk Institute on Kanakapura Road. Once the extended stretch till BIEC becomes operational, the total length of the Green Line will be 33 km. As of April 2023, the BMRCL has completed 92.54% of civil works from Manjunathnagar to BIEC.
Delay due to land acquisition
Sources in the BMRCL said a new deadline had been set to complete the work by August and open for commercial operation in September. “Some reasons had delayed the metro work on this stretch. Especially the delay in acquiring the NICE land had impacted the metro project. Now the matter has been sorted out, and the work is going on smoothly,” an official toldThe Hindu.
The elevated line from Nagasandra to Madavara has three stations — Manjunathnagar, Chikkabidarakallu, and Madavara. The stretch will connect the city to the BIEC, a premier exhibition centre.
Residents hopeful
The residents of Manjunathanagar, Chikkabidarakallu, Madavara, Tumakuru Road, Anchepalya and Jindal Nagar were waiting for the stretch to open as they have to travel more than five kilometres to travel by metro from Nagasandra. Mahesh Kulkarni, a resident of Madavara, said, “I am working in the Peenya Industrial area, and if the metro starts, it will be very useful for me to travel directly to Peenya by the metro. Now I have to travel to Nagasandra by bus or two wheeler.”
The stretch had earned notoriety as the stretch with the longest pending metro work. Another resident of Anchepalya, Saravana Kumar, said, “The BMRCL should have done the land acquisition soon and started the work. I think without proper planning, the metro announced the stretch. If the metro can finish the work by August, it will benefit lakhs on commuters on the green line.”
