BMRCL likely to get Kadugodi forest land in a month

The Whitefield metro line is likely to get that big push as the BMRCL is likely to get the final approval for constructing a depot and two stations on the forest land in the Kadugodi Plantation.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has proposed to acquire 18.11 hectares (44.75 acres) of land in the plantation for constructing a depot and three stations which are part of the Reach 1 Extension line (Biayappanahalli-Whitefield) of Namma Metro’s Phase 2.

Besides the depot, a portion of Kadugodi, Ujwala Vidyalaya and Whitefield metro stations will come up on the forest land.

In March, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) gave approval in principle for the project after the BMRCL made arrangements to transfer 45.55 acres of alternative land to the forest department and paid about Rs 55 lakh for compensatory afforestation in the Kali Tiger Reserve and Thippagondanahalli.

BMRCL’s special land acquisition officer M S Channappa Goudar said the corporation has met all the conditions laid down by the forest department. “We have submitted a compliance report and met all the conditions. We hope to get the clearance soon so that work on construction of the viaduct, station structures as well as the depot can be expedited in the coming days,” he said.

The forest department recently recommended to the Union ministry to grant the final approval for the diversion of the forest land. A source in the department said the regional office of the central ministry will take a call on the proposal soon.

The 15.3-km line from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield with 13 stations has been divided into two packages or reaches. As per the latest update on project completion given in mid-June, work on the Reach 1 Extension between Baiyyappanahalli and Visvesvaraya Industrial Area saw an overall progress of 40% while Reach 2 (Kundalahalli-Whitefield) made 53% progress.

While the legal hurdles and heavy traffic posed a challenge to Reach 1, work on Reach 2 slowed down due to the time-consuming process of obtaining clearance from the forest department.