Namma Metro Go Underground: Citizens’ Group Requests Karnataka CM To Dismantle Elevated Corridors

Citizen’s Agenda for Bengaluru, a non-governmental organisation has urged the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to drop the Rs 35,000 crore elevated corridor project and use the money to take Namma Metro underground, Deccan Herald has reported.

The group argued that the elevated metro that runs parallel to existing roads is inefficient as its distance and maintenance costs are higher than the underground metro lines.

Taking the metro underground will also save trees and make space for much-needed pedestrian footpaths.“If you are looking for a single big project, and something that will bring about (a) positive change, and transform Bengaluru back to a Garden City, this will be it,” the group wrote.

The group conveyed its message through an open letter on Facebook. The open letter asked the Chief Minister to take the following steps :

• Establish an efficient underground plan that connects the population centres in the city directly without having to align with the existing roads, and not have to have twisting and turning routes that create more maintenance costs, and inefficient rides.
• Then dismantle the entire elevated metro network, and recover the overland road space.
• Redevelop the recovered land to provide cycle lanes, dedicated bus lanes, wide footpaths and green cover in the city.

The group asked the government to set up a Unified Transport Authority (UMTA) to ensure there is proper, intuitive, interconnects between all modes of transport.