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Written By murali772 - 14 November, 2008

Bangalore Infrastructure Congestion Democracy Namma Metro Media Reports BMRC public transport Participation Metro Rail

I was born and raised in Bangalore in a traditional old bungalow in the heart of the city in National College Circle in Basavangudi. It was gifted to me by my late aunt with much love over 20 years ago. To my great sorrow, this property will soon be destroyed by the disastrous planning of the 'Namma Metro'.

I say enough, it is not 'Nimma Ooru'. It is 'Namma Ooru', whether one has lived here for 50 years or 5 months. It should not become Nimma metro, planned by ever changing bureaucrats with no coordination or consideration for the residents. Bangalore needs infrastructure that is effective, yet does not cause needless harm and inconvenience to its residents. We need the government to come up with a comprehensive, coordinated development plan. One that is open to public scrutiny, comment and approval. I understand that the government wants Nimma metro to project the image of the new Bangalore. Fine, let it go underground as has been done in major cities — even in Stalinist Russia, they went underground. If they could go underground in London a century ago, then surely with the amazing technology we have now, it should be quite easy to do so here. Moreover, Nimma metro should use public land when above ground and for heaven's sake, take down our ill planned flyover to make way for it. Only when all this is done will it truly be a Namma Metro, one that we can all proudly stand behind. We do not need to destroy the past and present to make way for the future. We do not need to lose the soul of the city to gain the world.

For the full story, click on:

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Nov142008/realty20081113100566.asp

Today, it is this lady's home. Tomorrow, it could be yours. Is this the kind of development we want?

Muralidhar Rao

COMMENTS

Disappointed that it is not underground

Vinay - 14 November, 2008 - 13:04

I was assuming that the metro would be underground. I was quite surprised when I found out a few months back, that only a very small portion will be underground. I feel that the MG road portion, as well as the portions cutting through core areas like Basavanagudi, CMH Road, etc. should have been underground.

Yes, it's more expensive and all that - but in the overall analysis it wouldn't be that much more expensive. Think of escalation and cost overruns due to countless litigation, PILs, protests and demonstrations. And what about the environment? Trees etc..

Having tracks underground, and most of the station underground, BMRCL should have been given control of the real estate at the stations. In German stations, we have supermarkets, stores, and in some cases even complete shopping malls inside underground stations!! I was visualizing something like that when I first heard of the metro. Fat chance..

Since we have gone ahead with this policy of having the trains on pillars, nothing can be done now about the beautiful structures and trees, sad as it sounds.

A sham

asj - 14 November, 2008 - 15:21

They call it a metro (for lay people this equates with = underground = poshness), but only 5km of Pune metro is underground (the number of kilometers keep shrinking year after year once they realise the costs), everything else is elevated.

So the whole reason for considering a metro in crowded inner city (ie. lack of space) has left aside.

What all this will do to cityscape is a different matter. Never mind those unlucky souls living near these elevated tracks as they will have a eyesore and an earache to deal with (unless more ugly looking noise barriers are also added to the plan).

ASJ

Though I have not done a cost analysis..

Vinay - 14 November, 2008 - 15:46

Even though I have not done a cost analysis, I have a feeling that it is viable to have retail space in underground stations and allow the metro developers to rent it out. I have seen the effectiveness in Europe. Even though it is not always right to implement ideas which work in the West, I feel it will solve multiple problems in this case.

Anyway, all this is hypothetical talk since the Metro construction is already well underway.

Maybe the very best thing that can happen is to get hold of a huge huge portion of barren un - cultivable land and create a huge planned city, putting into practice all the lessons we've learnt. I'm dreaming of course, but nothing wrong with dreaming, huh? :-)

Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece destruction

mcadambi - 14 November, 2008 - 16:16

Acquiring Komer Srinivasa Iyengar's home is like acquiring the masterpiece homes of Frank Lloyd Wright for Pennsylvania rail!

I wrote a strongly toned message to the top honchos of Namma Metro on this regard. I wanted to bring up this topic during the meeting, but i am not in the country at present.

Below is a copy of my letter which I addressed to N Sivasailam, B S Sudhir Chandra and Mr Pahuja as well as Smt Malini, the niece of Komer Srinivasa Iyengar.

---
To Whom it may concern,

As a supporter of Namma Metro, especially with regard to cases such as Namma Metro Vs CMH Road residents and Namma Metro Vs Mahakavi Kuvempu Road residents, I am plain disgusted to note that Namma metro does not care a inch about our city's heritage.
 
This is with regard to acquisition of Shri Komer Srinivasa Iyengar's masterpiece home in Basavangudi. This is the equivalent of acquiring Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece homes in Pennsylvania for a rail road!

I am sure the head honchos of Namma metro such as yourselves are not from Bangalore and much less care about our culture. It is just another pay cheque for all of you.

It is often said that the "devil" in in the details. Just by sitting in your air conditioned offices and not visiting facts on ground, you assume that the home of Komer Srinivasa Iyengar is just another property to be acquired.

Please consider this strongly worded letter as a strong note of protest. When people like me, strong supporters of the Metro now start to criticise the Metro - then i think there is something terribly wrong with the actions of the Metro.

Since i am also a supporter of Kannada culture - i plan to write to the Department of Kannada and Culture, the Urban Arts Commission as well as Karnataka Rakshana Vedike should the acquisition of Komer Srinivasa Iyengar's home continue.

I hope you will all exercise caution and foresight on this regard.

Regards,

Malolan R Cadambi,
Malleswaram, Bengaluru.
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Need not be completely 'buried'

Vinay - 16 November, 2008 - 17:12

But, I'd have expected 'core areas' like MG Road, Basavanagudi, CMH Road, etc. to be underground. The portion of the metro that is underground is very less. All countries have a part of the metro above ground, of course. But that is generally not in the 'CBD'. How many more PILs, court cases, litigation, etc. will we see if the metro is above ground in core areas of the city? Will that not stretch timelines and escalate costs?

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