Metro to showcase Gandhi

Exhibition on life and work of the Mahatma at the MG Road station

An exhibition centre on the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi will be set  up at the MG Road station of the Namma Metro, soon.

Sources in the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) told Deccan Herald that the exhibition centre will be set up where Plaza theatre was located earlier.

“The exhibits will be of a different kind, including unique paintings and messages of the Mahatma. An entire floor of the station will be dedicated for the purpose,” said an official from the BMRCL, on the condition of anonymity.

Another official from the Corporation said the cost of the project will be decided once the structure comes up and a separate team is being formed to execute the work.

“We wanted to have more than a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on MG Road. Since the road is considered as a showcase for the City, it is the best place to exhibit the life and message of the person after whom it has been named. In the coming years, the Gandhi Centre will also turn into a tourist destination,” he said.

On the time frame for the project, an official said the entrance from the Plaza theatre side was expected to be opened by March 2013. The Gandhi Centre will come up a few months later, he said.

He said the western side of the boulevard on MG Road will be opened to the public by December 2012 and the Corporation has plans to conduct a ‘Bengaluru Santhe,’ a weekly fair at Swami Vivekananda Road  Station soon.

Hire a bicycle

The corporation will launch the ‘hire a bicycle’ service at MG Road, Trinity and Ulsoor stations from Saturday.

The day also marks the first anniversary of the commercial operations of Namma Metro in the City. At the MG Road Station, the bicycle stand has been provided next to the Urban Square.

The facility has been provided by the Automated Tracking and Control of Green Assets (ATCAG), which has introduced bicycle stands in other parts of the City. Syed Haseeb Arfat, the chairperson of Kerberon Automations and the man behind such initiatives, said that initially 22 bicycles will be made available at the three stations and the number will be increased based on the public response.

People can take a bicycle from any station and park them in any Metro station or other designated slots also.