The struggle of the residents of BTM Layout and Bannerghatta Road with regard to the realignment of the Metro train route has now resulted in the formation of a new group which will look at the entire Phase 2 and fight together.
More than 75 residents from various associations across Bangalore met on Sunday afternoon to discuss the issue and chalk out the future course of action. Residents from Jayanagar, Whitefield, ITPL, K R Puram, Bannerghatta Road, BTM Layout and surrounding areas were at the meeting.
K Ramesh, Coordinator of the Jayadeva Interchange Metro Victims Forum, said, “The officials do not really care about how the people, who will lose their homes, are feeling “ he said.
During the last one month, the residents came across many people who had problems with the way Phase 2 was being carried out.
“Can you imagine the problems along the K R Puram Hanging Bridge and Tin Factory when the Metro work begins along this stretch? As it is, the traffic is so bad that it takes more than an hour to reach Electronic City,” Ramesh said.
He added that there were also talks of a second line being laid in Jayanagar.
The forum will be called the Citizen’s Futuristic Bangalore Forum and will not restrict itself to only Metro issues.
“We will look at various development programmes and ensure that officials don’t get away with their half researched plans and destroy what is left in the city. Public consultation has no value at all and during the talks of Jayadeva realignment issue, we realised that even politicians do not really care about our problems.”
The first fight of the forum will be towards the construction of an underground Metro as opposed to an elevated one, he said.
“Different people claim different things about an underground Metro station. Some say it will cost double and others say it will cost even more as much as the cost of an elevated Metro. But experts, based on papers available online, agree that while it will be a little costlier than elevated, in the long run, in terms of feasibility, safety and mobility an underground Metro is the way forward,” said another participant who did not wish to be named.