Suburban rail: Bengaluru betrayed?

The most anticipated but much-delayed suburban rail for Bengaluru may not become a reality anytime soon, with the Narendra Modi government going back on its pre-election promise of providing railway land virtually free for the project. The project requires over 700 acres of railway land worth Rs 6,700 crore. A bone of contention between the central and state governments for long, the land issue has been one of the key reasons for the delay. On the eve of the Lok Sabha elections, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal made an unscheduled visit to Bengaluru and announced amid much fanfare that railway land would be leased to the state government at a cost of Rs 1 per acre so that the project, first mooted in 2007, could take off without further delay. The people of Bengaluru heaved a sigh of relief, hoping they would get some respite from the nightmarish traffic, but their joy was short-lived with Prime Minister Modi revoking Goyal’s promise of free land as soon as elections were over. The project is now back on the drawing board. Making tall promises, reaping rich electoral benefits and turning back on the promises immediately after elections is nothing short of playing a fraud on the people.

Bengaluru has seen exponential growth both in terms of geography and population over the past two decades, but no attention was given to setting up a mass public transport system by successive governments, leading to acute traffic congestion and undue pressure on the crumbling infrastructure. The suburban railway, with a capital cost of nearly Rs 20,000 crore, will have 81 stations and cover 161 km along four routes: Kengeri–Bengaluru City–Whitefield; Bengaluru City–Yelahanka–Rajanakunte; Nelamangala–Mathikere–Baiyappanahalli; Heelalige–Yelahanka–Devanahalli. It will also provide direct connectivity to the Kempegowda International Airport. The network is expected to have a daily average ridership of nearly a million by 2025 and about 1.7 million by 2041.

This is not the first time the Centre has broken its promise to the people of the Bengaluru. On at least two occasions, the then Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that military land would be transferred immediately to the state government to enable completion of infrastructure projects that have been hanging fire for many years. Nothing has moved so far. The suburban railway also seems to be going the same way. One of the biggest stumbling blocks is the lack of aggression on the part of BJP MPs from Bengaluru, who dare not confront their political bosses in Delhi. Unless they develop some spine and fight for the cause of Bengaluru, there does not seem to be much hope for the city.