MG Road station in state of disrepair

Namma Metro is yet to complete 10 full years, but the MG Road station is in need of repair.

The reason: poor quality construction, which, sources said, forced the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to splurge Rs 12 lakh on refurbishing the station. Much of the focus is on restoring the granite slabs covering the sides.

“Slabs at several stretches of the barrier wall on platform number 1 (towards Baiyappanahalli) had come loose. Engineers who checked the structure said vibrations due to the train movement have slackened them. The work to reinstall the slabs is almost over,” a source said.

Officials refused to comment on whether the BMRCL would recover the loss from the contractor. The source said the repair works were commissioned within the defect liability period.

“We haven’t done the financial settlement with the contractor. We can recover the amount from the contractor after assessing if the damage was due to poor quality work or flawed design,” the source said.

The MG Road and Trinity metro stations are among the eight Phase 1 stations constructed by Punj Lloyd. The company’s work ranged from pile foundation and piers to architectural and fire protection works.

Officials said since the metro infrastructure and technology were new to most of the officers, including engineers, they learnt lessons from the experience of running Phase 1.

“The stations in Phase 2 will be smaller than the existing ones in view of reducing land acquisition and expenditure,” an official said. “On the technical side, several issues like the vibrations and durability of work have popped up. Such issues have been factored in in the contracts awarded for the Phase 2 work.”