BMRCL 'tweaks' DPR to help enclave residents, builders

HC stay has stalled work on soap factory station for 8 months now

 Has the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) violated its own Detailed Project Report (DPR) to facilitate a few builders? Is a Metro station being constructed just to facilitate residents of a nearby enclave?

A continued stay order from the High Court in the last eight months on the construction of a portion of Soap Factory Station located near Yeshwantpur along Reach-3 of Namma Metro, which connects Sampige Road to Yeshwantpur, does provide answers to the above questions.

G M Babu, a petitioner, has challenged the acquisition of his property on Survey No 26/4B measuring 991.93 square metres by the BMRCL. The property falls under BBMP Ward 9 in Subramanyanagar.

The High Court Division Bench headed by Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice S N Satyanarayana had stayed the construction of a portion of the Soap Factory Station in August last year.

In a recent affidavit, the petitioner has said the BMRCL, in its preliminary notification, had mentioned that his property was acquired for the construction of Soap Factory Station.

An after thought

“I reiterate that the said station did not feature in the original plan of the BMRCL and was later inducted admittedly as an after-thought at the behest of a private builder - M/s Brigade Developers,” says the petitioner.

The Soap Factory Station is located close to Brigade Gateway Enclave near the World Trade Centre. On the other side of the station is the property belonging to the petitioner and a large space owned by the Karnataka Soaps & Detergents Limited (KSDL).

Deccan Herald visited the site on Thursday and found there was no construction happening in the area where the High Court had ordered a stay. However, the station work on the other side of the road was going on and a ramp extending from the station towards the entrance of Brigade Gateway was almost in the final stages of completion.

Lakshmi Mohan, a worker in Sudarshan Automobiles located on Babu’s property, told Deccan Herald there was no catchment (no passengers frequency) on either side of the road, as there were no residential properties.

“Also, there are two stations (Yeshwantpur and Mahalakshmi Layout) located a few metres away. There is no need for another station here,” she said.

Sudrashan M Babu, a local resident, said the BMRCL had acquired around 30,000 sq ft (combining area on both sides of the road) that would serve no purpose.

In one of its responses to the court, the BMRCL had in fact accepted that the intermediate station (Soap Factory Station) was not provided for in the earlier (notification) as there was no catchment available.

“However, subsequently, M/s Brigade Developers have planned 2,00,000 sq ft residential complexes, commercial space, malls, a multispecialty hospital and multistorey structures.

Hence, foreseeing a huge demand and catchment in the area, it was felt that a station was necessary to be provided near the Soap Factory,” says the BMRCL response.

M N Sreehari, advisor to the Government of Karnataka on Traffic, Transport and Infrastructure, told this newspaper that construction of a rail station near the soap factory was a waste of crores of rupees of public money, as there was no catchment in the location.

“A station there would mean three such facilities within a distance of 1.5 km between Yeshwantpur and Mahalakshmi Layout. As per rules, there should be only one station for every kilometre of the track and in places where there is good catchment. Otherwise, there can be a station for every two kilometres,” he said.

Sreehari said the BMRCL should have intimated property owners in the surrounding areas whenever a DPR notification was being changed or altered. “The corporation has violated rules in this regard,” he said.

The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April 12. 

No response to RTI

Petitioner G M Babu has alleged that the BMRCL had failed to respond to his RTI requests regarding the construction of the Soap Factory Station. In his affidavit, he said even though he had filed an RTI petition on January 31 this year, seeking information on the date of inclusion of the Soap Factory Station in the BMRCL plan, the rail corporation had not provided him any data so far.