BENGALURU: The recently white-topped C Raman Road between the two campuses of the Indian Institute of Science in North Bengaluru will be dug up again for the underground Inner Ring Metro (IRM) line and also erect pillars for the Elevated Corridor (EC) from KR Puram to Yeshwanthpur. But the plan has set alarm bells ringing, with an IISc expert, researchers and even government officials questioning the dual construction on the same stretch as such a design could lead to the structure collapsing.
Interestingly, CNR Rao Circle (opposite IISc’s second main gate) has a major underpass and it is the same stretch where the EC and IRM are being planned.
Experts wonder how they would be able to manage constructing an underground IRM as well as the EC on the same line. “This just shows there is no coordination between departments. Ironically, the comprehensive mobility plan being prepared by BMRCL also includes the EC,” a senior government official said.
Prof Ashish Verma, Associate Professor, Transport Engineering Lab at the Department of Civil Engineering, IISc, told The New Indian Express, “The underground IRM and the EC running along the same stretch is an extremely dangerous proposition.”
Such structures can collapse due to stress. We will propose to the State Government to conduct another study on this,” Prof Verma added.He said the Elevated Corridor will not solve the problem of traffic congestion. “It has been proven that construction of flyovers and underpasses (or underground Metro) only shifts the problem from one place to the other. The solution is Metro and the BMRCL’s Inner Ring Metro study also proves that. In the study, the ridership on the IRM was evaluated and how it will ease traffic congestion,” he said.
The CV Raman stretch is not the only one. Many other stretches along the KR Puram to Yeshwanthpur corridor, including the stretch from Hebbal to Nagawara, will face the same threat if the government goes ahead with the construction of the IRM and EC together, a senior government official pointed out.
Incidentally, the Hebbal flyover was previously in the limelight for the wrong reasons when it developed cracks because of underground water stagnation.
The threat has suddenly loomed large as, according to a senior Karnataka Road Development Corporation (KRDCL) official, “The EC has been brought on track under pressure from the government and many politicians want the EC and so it has been tabled afresh.”
The IISc’s Transportation Engineering Lab, on the request of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), had prepared the ‘Ridership Estimation and Evaluation of the Proposed IRM Corridor in Bengaluru City’ report. The decision was taken in March 2019 and IISc submitted the report to BMRCL on February 14, 2020. However, on February 19, 2020, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan held a meeting with MLAs and stakeholders, in which the 102-km-long Elevated Corridor was brought back on the table.
The Metro ridership scenario was assessed with models. The BMRCL proposed to construct the IRM for 34 km by 2031 and it has been detailed in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan, 2019. The IRM includes 23 new Metro stations and six interchanges. In the report, the IISc has shown that the 2020 (present) ridership per day is 39,03,347, and by 2030, there will be a 120% increase (to 85,87,640) with the present Metro rail connectivity and implementation of Phase-2, 2A and 2B. If the IRM is completed, the ridership on it alone will increase by 15,22,485.
However, Verma’s lab conducted the study only on the IRM, and not the EC, which has reappeared like a bolt out of the blue.Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar said he was not aware of the latest development (EC being re-tabled). “Metro is a viable solution for the City. But the IRM and EC have not been placed before me or the cabinet. Once they are placed, a final decision will be taken,” he said.