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I dont know why there is so much protest for metro rail. It would be better if someone can also attach "reason for protest" whenever they seeks participation form Praja Folk for any kind of protest. I am sure people protesting metro rail for the reason  "cutting trees" have some other motive. Why there is no protest whenever there is an announcement of new layout. As formation of any layout means cuting "thounsand of trees"..still no protest from this pseudo green lovers... had they been sincere in their effort in ensuring green bangalore they wouldnt have allowed formation of any BDA layout..they should have been living in apartment in any tall building as it means less damage to green cover.

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          The answer to this question is a little tricky. I may end up violating a few guidelines in trying to answer your question.

           The answer to this question is that the people of this city/country are very opiniated about corrupt politicos and administrators. We tend to believe that ALL our people are corrupt; In doing so, we also do believe that people who have a clean record after having high offices are very efficient and intelligent, which need not be true. We dont understand that being 'clean' and having 'vision' for development are two different things.

           There is one such Mr. Clean , knowledgable in law. Most Bangaloreans have experienced his greatest contribution to Bangalore, the stretch from SJP road to Hudson Circle, but do not know that it his contribution. One of the most discussed topics (much before the metro days) was the Sirsi circle Flyover. Most people didnt see sense if did not go on upto Hudson circle. There are a few posts on Praja expressing the same opinion. Today, we have the flyover ramping down on to the SJP road, and there is a mess in the vehicular movement from SJP Road upto hudson Circle, with innumerable vehices contributing to excessive pollution.

          This pollution and irksome trouble is not because of the corrupt babu, but a Clean man (mistaken to be part of the intelligentsia) and a tree lover. His love for the 30-40 trees at the Silver Jubilee Park is the root cause for all the flyover not going upto Hudson Circle, and its also the root cause for all the pollution and dust in the area. Ironical, that a man who loved nature so much, that a decade later, he is identified as the root cause for pollution.

           Now, the man is not satisfied about this one contribution to Bangalore. He wants to contribute more. So, he has identified himself agianst a larger project in bid to 'increase' his contribution. He was till recently the co-ordinator of Environment Support Group, but has now joined the Hasiru Usiru bandwagon.

A request to Hasiru-Usiru:

              Hasiru is visible, and HU is striving to retain the visible part of its agenda. Usiru is not visible, and HU has conveniently forgotten the same. Metro will provide better Usiru for us in the decades to come. Please do not hinder the project by non-sense talk like "it will be constructed for the next 100 years; it will eat into existing road space etc" ( from this Hasiru-Usiru link).

            Instead, Strive to ensure that all localities/layouts planned in the future will have sufficient land marked for Metro lines. Educate the people that Metro is a non-polluting form of mass transport, taking much lesser space than buses and operating much faster than any other form of city transport.

-Srivatsava V

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Dear Spry,

Before questioning the motivation and assigning false motives to the protesters, it would be great if one would actually read the various articles that have recently been written on the issue.

This letter to the CM has a fair amount of depth: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savelalbaghfrommetro/

Also, please do browse the following website:

http://www.hasiruusiru.org

This article spells out how the Metro is guilty of serious differences between its plans and claims vs work on the ground.
 
http://www.hasiruusiru.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77:has-bmrcl-lied-in-its-eia-&catid=54:namma-metro&Itemid=77


Finally, if you would like some demystification of who these protesters and what their motives are, I would be glad to help you out. Easiest, just drop by at one of the protests, and you will see for yourself. 

Regards,
Kanishka.

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Spry, don't doubt their sincerity, or their motives for the protests. From what I know, they are dedicated activists, with no ulterior or hidden motives as such.

Don't make those assumptions please.

Opting to disagree with their stand - leave it at that. Disagree witht protest, not the protesters.

In my comment above - I am not claiming legal knowledge of Metro's ground operations. BMRCL may very well be violating laws. I am nobody to give a clean chit to them. I wrote my note solely based on the perception I have developed about Hasiru Usiru - polarized dedicated activists who oppose Metro as a project, not just the work at RV Road.

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Till now Mr,Sivasailam was not even willing to listen.  The PIL made him take a walk and explain things a little more humbly and not from the ivory tower that he was sitting in till now.  If not for protesters and watchdogs, democracy will be in peril.  HU is well within its rights to protest. 

While BBMP and BESCOM and BMRC might not intentionally harm people, the quality of work they do leaves a lot to be desired.  There is unintentional damage - but damage nonetheless.  I will post pictures on some drainage work happening in Richmond Town.  It is appalling to see it.  Stones over drains adjacent to people's compound walls have been laid that are so high that one needs Battle tanks to get in and out.  Stones are thrown all the place.  The whole place has been turned into some sort of earthquake zone

Srivathsa

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