Waiting for forever
DELAYED DEADLINES
Bangaloreans are disappointed that the Metro rail work has been pending for so long
The Metro officials have done it again. The Phase 1 (underground) operations, which were supposed to start by the end of this year, have again been postponed. And the deadline given now is 2013.
Says Yashwanth Chauhan, a BMRCL spokesperson, “We are expecting to complete the entire work of Phase 1 by 2013 and also open it to the public by then. There has been a delay in Reach 1 because of a few formalities.
This will not happen in the case of others.” But will the authorities keep up their promise and meet this deadline? Metrolife finds out what the people of Bangalore have to say.
Says Seema, who stays near BEL Road, “Ideally, they should have finished it by now. There have been so many deadlines in the past but they still haven’t started Reach 1.
The entire completion of Phase 1 seems like a distant dream now.” A lot of people have expressed cynicism over the way things are being carried out. Her friend Nikhil agrees.
“They had given 2010 as the deadline first and then said it would definitely start on Ugadi. They have been postponing the deadline all along and it is really disappointing,” he says.
But what could be the possible reason for this delay? Says Nikhil, “Bangalore is a growing city. And the BBMP is on an ambitious drive to build as many roads and flyovers as possible. There seems to be no co-ordination between the BMRCL and the BBMP. They need to prioritise and plan properly.”
Even Niveditha, a working professional, has the same thing to say. She avers, “The government has too much on its plate right now. And the result of all this is that no proper method is being followed to do the work systematically thus causing delay.”
The Metro work had started in 2008 and it has been a problem for the people in the City as a lot of roads have been closed and converted into one ways. And the announcement of this delay has only aroused displeasure among many.
Says Avinash, “At all the places where the Metro work has started, there have been road diversions. And this has been going on for the last four years. We have to go through this cumbersome process every single day until they start the operations.”
And this also means more traffic jams and slower business for the people who have shops where the Metro work is going on. Says Prashanth, “The Metro work is going to block traffic in these areas and shop owners will continue to suffer because of this.”
