Bengaluru Metro to get 9, not 45, acres for Hebbal transport hub
With this, all future infrastructure facilities such as depot for Metro trains and even multi-level parking systems for train users stand nixed. Instead, what will come up at the important transport hub will be high-rise commercial buildings, upscale residential facilities, and star hotels to be constructed by private players.
At the high-power committee meeting chaired by chief secretary Shalini Rajneesh in the city, BMRCL said it had scaled down its land requirement.
Interestingly, it was BMRCL which had earlier sought 45 acres in Hebbal from Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for establishing a comprehensive transport hub.
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While BMRCL did a U-turn and settled for nine acres, the high-power committee barely saw any need for discussions on the possible impact of giving away prime land to realtors. The committee cleared the revised proposal and directed BMRCL to approach KIADB for the transfer of nine acres.
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"At a time when future-thinking cities are saving land for public use, a section of politicians, bureaucrats and realtors in the already traffic-choked tech capital is doing the opposite. Just imagine this scenario in the next two years when the Metro line to airport becomes operational: You will not have place to park your car at Hebbal station even if you want to take a train from there. At the receiving end will be ordinary commuters," a senior IAS officer said, terming the govt's move a retrograde step.
Former minister and Rajajinagar MLA Suresh Kumar, the only senior political functionary who has been opposing handing over land to real-estate players, said the long-term interests of the city are being compromised.
A year ago, BMRCL had requested for 45 acres from the govt to build an integrated transport hub to seamlessly connect various modes of public transport. To secure the land, which was acquired by KIADB over two decades ago for a tourism project that never materialised, BMRCL had even offered over Rs 500 crore as compensation.
Following BMRCL's initial proposal, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar and industries minister MB Patil had publicly said the land would be allocated to support the city's growing transit needs. However, in a surprising turn, BMRCL chose to drastically reduce its land request. This reduction has alarmed urban planners and mobility experts, who warn that shrinking the land footprint could severely limit the project's capacity to support multi-modal integration, parking and to provide other commuter amenities.
When contacted about the decision to scale down the request, BMRCL managing director Maheshwar Rao declined to comment.
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