The Modi government has announced several measures to improve urban infrastructure and public transport services in its efforts promote ‘Ease of Living’ in India’s silicon valley.
In her Budget speech yesterday (1 February), Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman laid emphasis on public transport in urban areas through expansion of metro rail networks and augmentation of city bus services.
For the traffic-congested city of Bengaluru, Sitharaman announced an extension of funds worth ₹14,788 crore to construct 58.19 km of metro rail in Bengaluru city. This comes under the Phase 2A and 2B plans of the Bengaluru metro rail.
Phase 2A is the proposed 18.23 km long elevated line to connect KR Puram and the Central Silk Board along the outer ring road (ORR), while Phase 2B purports to connect KR Puram to Bengaluru airport and spans a length of 37 km.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday released a statement, saying, “An amount of ₹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.”
Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “The support from the Government of India for building this sustainable mobility infrastructure will help the city in realising its economic potential. This line will help the IT & BT sector. In particular, it will improve multimodal mobility integration and act as a catalyst for mobility-oriented development.” Also, the all-important “Airport Line” has a June 2025 deadline, he added.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd Managing Director Ajay Seth on Monday said that this was the first time a specific deadline ― March this year ― for the green signal to be given to this line of the metro rail.
ORR is among the densest corridors in the IT capital of India, with large IT Parks that house major companies such as Intel, AOL, Cisco and many more. Each year billions of dollars are wasted because employees reach their offices late, and the daily commute also adds to the physical stress of thousands of IT professionals.
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