BENGALURU: Even as political reasons hold back the launch of the fully completed Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal at Baiyappanahalli, the Defence department is keen that no one should be able to peep into its premises from the Road Over Bridge on Baiyappanahalli Main Road running parallel to it.
In compliance with that demand, the BBMP is now in the process of installing Vision Cut-Off Barriers on both sides of the bridge.
The 400 m stretch of ROB, which connects the main road with the terminal as well as Kamanahalli, is now dotted with hundreds of grills separated by two feet from each other.
BBMP Chief Engineer Roads & Infrastructure B S Prahlad told TNIE, "The Defence Department feels it falls within their Vision Range and since it is a security establishment, they want it fully secured from any possible breach. We are in the process of completing the laying all the grills on this bridge. After that we would cover them all with Mild Steel mesh so that nothing inside the Defence property would be visible to anyone using this bridge. The mesh will be laid shortly."
On the status of other road works, Rao said that minor works like painting of kerbstones was pending. When this reporter visited the spot, the footpath across the main entrance of the terminal was yet to be laid with rows of stones arranged near each other.
"The job of readying the access roads and the ROB have all been completed by us. The delay in opening the terminal as of now is not because of BBMP. We are desilting drains and laying many roads nearby that would help better accessibility to the terminal," he stressed.
The fully air conditioned terminal was readied at a cost of Rs 314 crore was fully ready a year ago. Every visit to it reveals the addition of more sophisticated features to it. However, there seems to be no clarity on when it would actually be declared open.
The terminal was supposed to be first launched in June 2019 but in never happened. It was later announced that it would be inaugurated by PM Modi by mid-February in 2021 but the PMO never gave dates delaying it enormously.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who made a visit in September 2021 said the terminal would be launched only after access roads to the terminal are laid. With everything in place, now, there is no explanation forthcoming on the reason for the present delay.
As of now, no one in SWR knows when it would actually begin operations.