Whitefield residents upset over Metro

Bengaluru: Many techies and citizens of Whitefield are quite upset by the lackadaisical attitude of BMRCL in taking Phase 2 forward. So far Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has been very slow in completing land acquisition in Whitefield. Although BMRCL claims that KIADB has started the process of land acquisition for Whitefield extension, there is no clarity.

BMRCL officials claim KIADB officials are in the process of land acquisition at Whitefield. Chinappa, General Manager (Land) from BMRCL says, “Preliminary notices have been served, joint measurement has been completed and objections too have been heard. Now only final notifications are to be served and compensation has to be paid to the identified property owners. The entire process will take about six months time.”

About 1 lakh 4000 sq meters land has been notified for the metro work to begin from Byappanahalli to Whitefield. About 244 properties have been identified for land acquisition which includes properties that are residential, commercial and industrial.

Srinidhi from Praja RAAG says, “Everyone seems to be totally silent on land acquisition by KIADB on Whitefield extension. BMRCL is also not doing much for the critical extensions.” Voicing a similar opinion Whitefield Area Commerce and Industries Association (WACIA) President R N Hegde says, “The process has been very slow. Till date there are just two meetings held with the land losers. They all want to know the price they will be paid for their land. Soon, we will have a combined meeting of land losers with the metro officials.”

Phase 2 which will be 72 km long will connect various parts of the city and is estimated to cost Rs 26,405.14 crore. Under the east-west link, it will cover the stretch from Byappanahalli to IPTL-Whitefield which is 15.50 km with 13 stations. Whitefield today houses huge software parks, Information technology companies, hundreds of industries that bring foreign exchange to the country and this makes it even more important to establish ways for a seamless connectivity to this part of the city.