Ready to give land to Bengaluru Cantonment Metro: South Western Railways

Bengaluru: After many media reports on the Cantonment Metro station being away from the railway station, the South Western Railway issued a statement. “In May this year, BMRCL asked SWR for temporary allocation of about 16,000 Sq. Mts. of land for four years and permanent licensing of about 2500 Sq. Mtrs. land near Bengaluru Cantonment Railway station for the Metro construction work. In this connection joint site survey has been proposed to identify the exact requirement of land," stated the press statement by Vijaya, Chief Public Relations Officer of SWR.“The issue is under discussion and will be finalized after feasibility study and mutual dialogue. All issues including easy transit between Cantonment Railway and metro station will be taken into account," the release stated.

Experts have repeatedly pointed out that, though BMRCL had prepared the DPR for Phase-2 in 2014, it approached the Railways for land only earlier this year, by which time Railways had already floated tenders for their PPP development. However, the Ministry of Railways on June 1, 2016, in a circular, permitted Railways to give operating rights of land to all Metro projects.