The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Metro Rail to be operational by 2011

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Saturday, Mar 15, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Metro Rail to be operational by 2011

Staff Reporter

Government files status report in court

Some people have moved the court to stay
the project
The project will have two corridors, East West and North South

BANGALORE: The State Government submitted to the Karnataka High Court on Friday that it had set out 151 milestones for the successful completion of the Metro Rail project and of this, 27 milestones had already been achieved.

The State made these submissions in the status report filed in the court on the implementation of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project.

The CMH Shops and Establishments and Residents’ Association of Indiranagar, Bangalore, and others had challenged the project and urged the court to stay it.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice B.V. Nagaratna had asked the State to file a statement/report on the project.

In its report, the State said the project was expected to be operational by December 2011. It said the project would have two corridors East West and North South.

The East West corridor would be 18.1 km in length and would start at Byappanahalli (NGEF Complex) and terminate at Mysore Road. It would cover Indiranagar, CMH Road, Swami Vivekananda Road, M.G. Road, Ambedkar Road, Post Office Road, K.G. Road, Majestic, KSRTC Bus Stand, Bangalore City Railway Station, Magadi Road, Toll-gate, Chord Road, Vijayanagar, Mysore Road up to Ring Road Junction.

The North South corridor would start at Yeshwantpur and terminate at Jayanagar. It would cover Chord Road, Mahakavi Kuvempu Junction, Swastik, Platform Road, KSRTC Bus Stand, Chickpet, City Market, K.R. Road, Vani Vilas Road, Lalbagh, R.V. Road, South End Circle and Jayanagar.

It said the main depot-cum-workshop for East West corridor was planned at Byappanahalli, and for the North South corridor at Yeshwantpur.

It said the metro project was not covered under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 read with Environmental (Protection) Rules, 1986. Moreover, the Centre itself had informed Bangalore Metro Rail Company Limited that the system did not attract the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 1994.

However, a detailed environmental impact assessment study was carried out by Bangalore University.

Case

Earlier, the petitioners said the Mysore Tramway Act was not in force and the State was saying that it had taken up the project under the Act.

Moreover, environmental clearance had not been obtained.

They said the BMRCL was not a government undertaking, but a statutory body set up under the Companies Act.

Speaking on behalf of the Bench, the Chief Justice orally observed that courts could not decide on whether a public infrastructure project was necessary or not. Courts, he said, in his perception also had limited scope for intervening in financial and ecological aspects of a project or policy.

However, he said courts could intervene if a case was made out for violation of fundamental rights or infraction of legal issues.

The Bench adjourned further hearing on the case till March 26.

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