Amid major issues related to traffic and congestion in Bengaluru, with a recent TomTom report naming Bengaluru the second slowest to drive through in the world in 2022, the city’s metro project is facing a similar challenge.
In comparison to other metro rail projects in the country, Bengaluru is one of the slowest.
Bengaluru metro became operational in 2011 and so far has 55.6 km of operational line. In comparison, Chennai Metro, which became operational in 2015, has 54.1 km of operational service.
Similarly, the Mumbai metro rail, which began in 2014, has 46.50 km of rail infrastructure. Taking a recent example, the Ahmedabad metro rail boasts 37.9 km of rail even though it started in 2019.
According to experts, the delay in Bengaluru’s metro construction is the result of the lack of oversight from the government.
Sanjeev Dyamannavar, a commuter rail activist, said that even though the second phase of metro rail was announced when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, the project is yet to take off.
“The state government, which has invested money in the project, has failed to put any accountability on the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). More than that, there is a clear lack of planning. For example, when the metro line was to be extended from Byappanahalli to Whitefield, instead of starting the work from Byappanahalli, where the current line ends, they started the work from Whitefield. This is beyond common sense,” he said.
Mobility expert and adviser to the government of Karnataka for traffic, professor MN Sreehari, said that compared to other cities, Bengaluru has a large underground network.
“Since the soil in Bengaluru is hard compared to soil in Chennai or Hyderabad. However, the delay we have had so far needs to be looked at. The longer it takes for the metro to come up, it would become less relevant to solving our traffic problems,” he said.
It is not just the delay that raises question marks on the metro rail project. During the legislative council session on Thursday, MLC TA Saravana asked the government how many had lost lives due to Metro mishaps. Replying to this question, chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai said that, so far, 38 people died and 50 people were injured since construction began in 2011.
The CM further stated that BMRCL suspended three engineers and contractors who were penalised for ₹17,700,000.
“So far, ₹31,574,389 has been provided as compensation for the victims or their family members. Metro strictly follows the Safety, Health and Environment Manual (SHE) manual, and all contractors have to mandatorily adhere to the manual’s terms and conditions. The priority of the SHE manual is to ensure zero casualties or injuries,” he said.
The latest incident was reported on January 11, after a metro pillar which was under construction collapsed on a two-wheeler, killing a woman and her two-and-a-half-year-old child in Bengaluru’s Nagawara.
Urban experts blamed the callousness of the authorities and said the incident could have been avoided with proper supervision.
Kathyayini Chamaraj, activist and executive trustee of CIVIC, an activist group, called for transparency at every construction site in the city so that there is accountability if such incidents occur in the future.
“We have been asking for transparency at every construction site, to name the contractor, the mobile number of the person in charge. Everything should be displayed. Why is that not being done? The BMRCL has put up all those barricades just with the name of the company. But we don’t know whom to contact. At every stage, we need details of the person who can be held accountable,” she said.
“This shows total corruption, callousness, a sense of impunity and lack of concern (by the government) to what is happening to citizens. They are just concerned about winning elections and making money. Recently, some ministers said ‘love jihad’ is more important than roads and drains. How can a person in power speak like that and get away with it? The law minister said that we are just biding time until the elections. They are not even governing or doing any development,” Chamaraj pointed out.
BMRCL spokesperson Yashwant Chawan said the construction depends on the geographical requirements, weather, area of the roads, whether they are narrow or wide, land acquisition, and traffic diversion, among other things.
“There are different aspects to it. We cannot compare different cities this way. There are different factors at play. In Bengaluru, tree-cutting is also an issue for which there are many guidelines…Tree cutting is an area which has to be grilled, whether it is hard rock or not, in which case there is a limit to how much can be grilled per day. But soft soil is easier to operate on. All the factors put together, there will always be delays. The delay does not mean we are not able to do it,” he said.
