Centre may free up 102 acre defence land for metro rail

The Karnataka government is planning several more initiatives to address Bangalore city's infrastructure needs. The projects include an elevated expressway, several flyovers, underpasses and causeways.

But the best out of chief minister Dharam Singh's New Delhi visit could be this one: Union defence ministry has accepted Dharam Singh's request to free up 102 acres of land in the city for the metro rail project.

Highly placed sources in the state government said that the defence ministry nod was received on Friday evening.

Defence officials could not be contacted. Sources said that the defence ministry approved the project after Dharam Singh represented the dire need for the land to defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the Capital.

They said the CM had to touch base with the Centre because the local defence officials could not help.

Other infrastructure initiatives include a Rs 280 crore elevated expressway in the Peenya region on the lines of the elevated four-six lane road from Central Silk Board junction to Electronics City.

Added to this will be a Rs 140 crore project to prop up flyovers, causeways, underpasses in several traffic prone zones in the city.

Officials are quite gung ho on the metro rail project now. The clearance for the defence land will boost the prospects of the long-awaited metro project.

Very recently, the government gave its first approval for the project. Following this it is studying the economic feasibility of options. The state government which under fire from the public and industry for the city's crumbling infrastructure is slowly waking up to address immediate needs. At least, the last three months has seen several project announcements.

Chief minister Dharam Singh's visit to Delhi too focussed on infrastructure. There, he had asked the Centre to provide assistance and aid to decongest the city.