BENGALURU: BMRCL has now submitted to the Urban Development Department a survey of both the old and new Cantonment Metro alignment - near the Railway station and Bamboo Bazaar playground respectively.
While BMRCL officials refused to divulge any details, Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department Mahendra Jain told Deccan Chronicle, "As far as the State Government is concerned, they have in principle approved the new alignment proposed by BMRCL. There are however still rounds of discussions going on with BMRCL and stakeholders before taking a final call."
BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Kharola refused to comment.
While Reach 6 line from Gottigere to Nagawara requires land acquisition of residential property, there is an uproar from apartment dwellers, who opposed the old alignment as they were unwilling to part with their land for mid-tunnel shaft construction.
Transport Expert Sanjeev Dyamnavar from Praaja RAAG advocacy group, maintain that if the old alignment near Cantonment Railway station is not chosen it will have a disastrous impact on the inter-modal integration.
"The present footfalls at Cantonment Railway Station (CRS) is around 60,000 per day. Thousands of people using Metro will have to spend average of 15 minutes one way, walking from Bamboo Bazaar to CRS. The man-hours lost will convert to a huge financial loss over the next 100 years," said Rajkumar, a resident of Vasanthnagar.
While BMRCL has assured that a travelator will be built between Metro and a platform of CRS, Rajkumar believes this is sure recipe for disaster, since there will be times when thousands of people will move in both directions to get access.
A map recently released by the pro-CRS citizen group reveals there will be a 500-metre distance from the playground to the end of Cantonment station and a 150 metre distance between the metro and CRS as per the former alignment.
