The ball has finally begun rolling three years after the Indian Railways announced that the Bangalore City and Byappanahalli railway stations will be developed into world class facilities.
The state government has agreed in-principle to hand over 30 acres for the development of each of these stations, Akhil Agarwal, divisional railway manager, Bangalore division of the South Western Railways told DNA.
“The Binny Mills land will be acquired for the City station, and a patch of land near NGEF will be obtained for the Byappanahalli station,” Agarwal said.
The decision was communicated to the railways about three weeks ago. However, it looks like it would take at least another four years for the project to become a reality. “It took over three years to get an in-principle clearance from the government. Looking at the snail-paced progress of the project, I think it will take a minimum of four years for the railway authorities to complete it. This means that over 1.5 lakh people who visit the City station every day will have to wait longer,” said Sajjan Poovayya, chairman of state council, FICCI.
“The delay will escalate the cost of the project,” he said. According to sources, the land acquisition process would take another four
months.
“The project will be completed under public-private partnership. We are preparing maps for the purpose. We will send them to the state government for clearance. The cost for the project is yet to be calculated. We are also yet to issue tenders,” Agarwal said.
Prakash Mandoth, former zonal railway member, South Western Railways, added that the land acquisition was bound to cause further delays.
“But in this case, we need to obtain additional land for the construction of more platforms, washing yard, sick lines and pit yards,” he said. At present there are 10 platforms in the City station.
The proposal to develop the railway stations was mooted in December 2007, during a meeting of the Central, state and zonal railway officers.
