BENGALURU: Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has urged Indian Railways to create a dedicated rail link between Kengeri and Anekal, pointing out that the Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project (BSRP) will not benefit his constituency. “Unfortunately, the Bengaluru South constituency has no proper suburban rail connectivity. That’s why I’ve proposed a link between Kengeri and Anekal,” he told TNIE during an interaction on Friday, adding that the Railways is conducting a feasibility survey for the route.
Surya stressed that the proposed line would help integrate South Bengaluru with the rest of the city’s rail network. Highlighting structural issues within the BSRP which affects the execution, Surya noted, “BSRP is a joint Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) between the Railways and the state. That’s the core problem. Two agencies, two political dynamics, and Railways is rigid. The state hasn’t shown much interest in executing the project either.”
Taking aim at governance issues within Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP), Surya criticised the lack of accountability in infrastructure delivery, citing delayed flyovers like Ejipura and Hosakerehalli. “I am going to write to the Archeological Survey of India to declare them as protected monuments,” he quipped, citing zero progress on these projects.
“The BBMP is structurally inefficient. We need an empowered mayor with a five-year term, not a ceremonial one,” he said.
Questioning the logic of making buses free for women on one hand and then increasing the price of Metro by over 100%, he said, “What kind of policy is that? You give on one side and take away on the other. This is nothing but a political gimmick.”
‘Namma Transit’ to integrate Metro, auto, cab services
Namma Yatri on Friday launched ‘Namma Transit’, a new feature in its app that integrates Metro, auto and cab services to guide commuters from origin to destination. The feature aims to unify Metro, autos and cabs into one journey, placing a personal transit assistant for every user. MP Tejasvi Surya took a hands-on trip using the new feature on the Namma Yatri app.
Starting from Namma Yatri’s office in Koramangala, he boarded an auto to Trinity Metro Station, switched to Metro, and reached Vidhana Soudha demonstrating the app’s real-time multimodal guidance from first mile to last. Namma Yatri also released the ‘MadeForBLR: Namma Mobility Blueprint 2030’, a 10-point agenda, which outlines a goal of achieving 70% public transport share, reducing commute time and emissions by 50%, and improving first- and last-mile connectivity through collaboration between citizens, government and markets. It calls for citizen-led adoption of sustainable travel habits, employer-supported commute shifts such as flexible work hours and ride-sharing.