Bengaluru : Save our homes, plead residents of Benson Town and Nandidurga Road
Bengaluru : BMRCL’s silence over the land acquisition issue for Reach 6 (Gottigere-Nagawara) line has panicked the residents of Benson Town and Nandidurga Road. The residents have now decided to take up the matter with the Namma Metro officials themselves, through a memorandum.
Yet to be submitted to Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola, the memorandum is titled, “Memorandum requesting that the Metro Line not be aligned to cause displacement and hardship to residents in Benson Town and Nandidurga Road”.
It goes on to state, “For the purpose of a mid-tunnel shaft, BMRCL would need to acquire land in excess of 1 acre. As per media reports, it would mean demolition of many residential properties along Nandidurga and Benson Cross Road. This could lead to over 70 families losing their homes. Apart from that, drilling and underground blasts could harm foundation of nearby buildings.”
The residents have cited BMRCL’s resettlement policy framework that espouses ‘minimal displacement of persons from their homes’.
Making a plea to the Namma Metro, the MoU reads, “Several of these people have lived here for decades, invested their life’s earning into these properties and made it a home for their family. We request that should BMRCL consider this alignment, this option warranting displacement of people and properties be dropped and alternative options be considered.”
Another set of citizens and experts who have campaigned for Cantonment Metro to be connected with Cantonment Railway Station have proposed alternative options to Metro, it stated.
Transport expert Sanjeev Dymanavar, in an email to Mr Kharola and Rolling stock Director N.M. Dhoke, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, and BJP MPs P.C. Mohan and Ananth Kumar, has suggested alternative alignment, eliminating the need for a shift.
“By a small adjustment in location of Cantonment Metro Station within the same Cantonment Railway parking lot, the tunnel length and distance will reduce and there will be no need for a mid-tunnel shaft,” Mr Dymanavar explained.
If BMRCL requires the shaft, the citizen group has personally surveyed and spotted 106 Infantary Battalion (TA) Para Defence land near Nandidurga Road and also another barren, unoccupied piece of land, a few metres away from Maangalya Residences, rumoured to be acquired for the project.
