FM Nirmala Sitharaman Announces Rs 14,788-Crore Funding For Bengaluru Metro, CM Yediyurappa Terms It ‘Biggest Gift’

Increasing its efforts for ‘Ease of Living’, particularly in urban areas, the Modi government has announced a slew of measures to improve urban infrastructure and public transport services.

In her Budget speech yesterday (1 February), Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government aims to raise the share of public transport in urban areas through expansion of metro rail networks and augmentation of city bus services.

Sitharaman announced extension of funds worth Rs 14,788 crore to construct 58.19 km of metro rail in Bengaluru city. She stated that the Central funding will be provided to Phase 2A and 2B of the Bengaluru metro rail.

Phase 2A is the 18.23 km long elevated line that proposes to connect KR Puram and the Central Silk Board along the outer ring road (ORR) while Phase 2B connects KR Puram to Bengaluru airport spanning a length of 37 km.

ORR is among the densest corridors in the IT capital of India . It is dotted with major IT Parks that houses major companies such as Intel, AOL, Cisco and more present.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday released a statement, saying, “An amount of Rs 14,778 crore has been announced for (the) Bengaluru Metro Project, 58 km of the new route can be constructed due to this provision. This is the biggest gift to Karnataka from our own Finance Minister.”