BENGALURU: Eight months after the first entry to the Chickpet Metro station was opened to the public, the second entry will be opened at 6am on Monday.The entry at the beginning of the Police Road that will cater to the people who frequent the popular vegetable, flower and fruit market (KR Market) here.
“With nearly 1 Km to be covered by shoppers at this market along with their bags to the existing Metro entrance at BVK Iyengar Road (Entry A), most people are reluctant to take the Metro. This new entry (Entry B) is just 300 metres from the market,” said a top Metro official. Most of the vendors here, too, are left out of the Metro travel experience because of the distance to be covered by walk, he added. Two more entries (C and D) are still being readied.
This new entry, decked with a beautiful piece of art work of a young girl smelling a flower, stands out in the congested, busy market. The breakdown of a Tunnel Boring Machine drilling underground during the construction stage ensured that the route from Chickpet to Kempegowda Metro station was the last to be completed in the 42.3-km network.
The New Indian Express interacted with many at the market. P Chetan, employed in a lawyer’s firm had come on his two-wheeler from Chamrajpet to purchase his family’s weekly quota of vegetables and fruits. “My parents come once a week from Kengeri by boarding a train at Nayandahalli Metro station. The prices are so cheap here and they will be really relieved when an entry opens right in front of the market here,” he said.
Waiting with three bags at the Metro station was 65-year-old Bhavan Lal, who runs his own steel related business at Lakshmi Narayanapura. He boards the Metro train at Srirampura Metro Station and alights at Chickpet Metro Station to visit the main market every alternate day. “Apart from taking care of my business-related purchases, I also buy fruits and vegetables from the market when my wife asks me to. If the distance to be walked from there gets reduced in any way due to the new entry, it would be very useful for me. “
BPO employee P Amruth, who comes here from Vijayanagar was struggling to carry his bags to the present Metro station. “I come here once in a fortnight. There is Sunday market too today. It will be very convenient for all of us if the new entrance is opened.”
Arun Kumar, who runs an Agarbathi store in the S K R market says, “Thousands of retailers spend money and time coming from long distances and carrying so many bags back. They will really benefit,” he said.
Most of the vendors spoken to, however, had never travelled by Metro and had doubts whether their sacks would be permitted inside.Responding to it, an official said that the luggage limit of 15 kg per person had been removed and vendors can carry huge quantities inside trains now.