Optimistic crowds cheer on as the first phase of the Bangalore metro is completed. However the traffic snarls and displacement caused by ongoing construction have created their own share of sceptics.
He holds the cloth garland out. “It seems too short,” he says doubtfully, before trying it on around his neck, while the man who brought in the box full of garlands looks on. It does indeed turn out to be a trifle short. “Take it to the MD,”he finally pronounces. U A Vasanth Rao then turns his attention to other matters, such as his incessantly ringing mobile phone. Rao’s official designation is general manager (finance) of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) but two days ahead of the launch of the first Metro in south India and the third in the country (after Delhi and Kolkata), his mandate seems to span anything and everything — from decisions on garlands to giving directions on the feeder buses that will ply on D-Day, October 20.
Others walk the corridors of the third-floor office of BMRCL on the busy KH Road with gifts and a bunch of invitations to be sent to various quarters for an event that is both a culmination and a beginning. For, while it is the inauguration of the Metro, work on which began in April 2007, it is just one small part of the first phase, or Reach 1, of Rs Namma Metro’ (our Metro, in Kannada) that will be open for now. The entire Phase 1, which will span 42.3 kilometres, is scheduled to be completed only by December 2013.
In the four years since work began, the projected outlay has ballooned — from Rs 8,158 crore in 2007 to the present estimate of Rs 11,609 crore, but Rao has reasons for this escalation down pat: “When the estimate was calculated, the first phase was only 33 kilometres long, which was later extended. The land compensation prices were also calculated at the 2005 rates, while we paid more than what was the current market rate. All the other estimates were also at the 2007 rates, which have now shot up —and, of course, there’s inflation to be factored in.”
The only time the otherwise genial Rao bristles a bit is when comparisons to the Delhi Metro are made, estimated cost of the 65-kilometre first phase of which has been pegged at Rs 10, 571 crore. “You should compare apples to apples. We have adopted technologies like the third rail system, which is around 30 per cent costlier than having overhead power cables but it’s more aesthetic and we can avoid cutting more trees,” he says, defensively. The Bangalore Metro has also used the standard gauge system, unlike the broad gauge used in Delhi. Rao adds, before rushing away to attend to the hundred other matters clamouring for his attention, that the rehabilitation they have provided to those displaced is among the best in the country.
* * * * *
Also Read
The quality of construction of the houses for the displaced is not being disputed, says Kumar, who chose not to move to the alternate accommodation offered when his house behind Sampige Theatre (on the north-south route of phase 1) was razed. He has, instead, shifted to a small house in a slum across the railway tracks from where his old dwelling stood. “Peenya, where I would have had to shift to, is very far from here. Our children go to school here, our work is here — why would we move an hour away? Undoubtedly, the houses are good, but there is no water, and initially there were no toilets, either.”
Kumar is not the only one with a grievance. Imtiaz Ahmed, the president of the CMH Road Shops And Establishments Association, has been at the forefront of the protests against the Metro construction in the vicinity of his shoe shop on that road. To hear him tell it, one might think he is talking of Cyril Radcliffe himself, the British lawyer who became famous for partitioning of British imperial territory of India. “The alignment of the line was done by someone from Delhi who just drew a criss-cross on the map and said this is the route to be followed,” says Ahmed, who feels that the Metro should not have passed through CMH Road at all. “This road has affluent inhabitants, who are unlikely to use the Metro. The alignment should have been through Old Madras Road.”
Ahmed and his 1,500-member association shut down CMH Road, a hub of business, thrice, filed a PIL against BMRCL and approached the then chief minister, Dharam Singh, who appointed a committee to resolve their grievances. Chief among these was the loss of business that they had suffered due to the construction. Ahmed says his own revenues plummeted 70-80 per cent. Closer to the opening of the first line, though, he has softened his stance. “With the construction in this area finally over, we feel there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. Once upon a time, this 2-kilometre stretch had 32 banks, most of which closed once the Metro work started. Hopefully, we’ll see a return of those days.”
* * * * *
If Ahmed has only a hint of optimism to offer, those present at the maiden run of Rs Namma Metro’ from MG Road in the heart of the city to Baiyyappanahalli in the east more than make up for it—whether it is the ticket counter staff member Shalini, who bashfully admits she is proud to be part of the Metro, or the dignitaries waxing eloquent at the inaugural function at the Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground later. BMRCL’s Rao too seems to have a spring in his step while he rushes around. Once the train is flagged off by Union minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath, there is a near-stampede among the Rs select invitees’ to get into one of the three gleaming Wi-Fi enabled coaches, manufactured by a BEML-Hyundai Rotem-Mitsubishi consortium.
On board, Sudhir Krishna, chairman of BMRC and secretary in the urban development ministry, wants to know whether there are special coaches for women, just like in the Delhi Metro. Not yet, but perhaps there could be later, he is told. The ride, Krishna acknowledges, is smooth. The train whizzes past the four stations between MG Road and Baiyyappanahalli in less than 15 minutes, past enthusiastic Bangaloreans waving from their rooftops.
Back at the MG Road station, queues to get on the Metro when it is thrown open to the public at 4 pm have started forming as early as 1 pm. Jai Krishnan, one of the first in line, shows off the card he bought two weeks ago enthusiastically. But even while there may be throngs to board Namma Metro in its initial days, if only to see what is like, any one expects a relief from traffic snarls immediately, including Praveen Sood, commissioner for traffic and road safety. “This short stretch is more symbolic than anything else. Only when there is end-to-end connectivity will there be a real impact,” he says. But considering the many delays that plagued the first stretch, when that could be is anyone’s guess.