Bengaluru: The tussle between Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and citizens over the location of Namma Metro’s Cantonment station is set to hog the limelight. On Sunday, Bengaluru Central MP, P.C. Mohan, wrote a strongly worded letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in support of the protesting citizens who have brushed away the BMRCL’s reasons for relocating the station as lies.
In a point-by-point rebuttal to all the reasons cited by the BMRCL in a press conference on Thursday, Mohan has urged the State government to reconsider its decision. The MP pointed out that the approvals given to the BMRCL were based on the earlier design where the metro station was integrated with the railway station.
He has also called out the BMRCL’s citing of a Railways rule stating that tunneling must be done only at a depth of 30 m below railway tracks.
“Kindly provide a copy of the order. As per my information, there is no such order. In my opinion, this rule cited above is to mislead the public,” he said.
BMRCL managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola had earlier said that a cave-in had occurred 20 m below the city railway station during tunneling for phase I and a track had been left hanging dangerously while passenger movement had continued. He had also cited the length of the tunnel at 1.8 km for the original plan for the Cantonment station as being a safety problem if a train stalled midway.
