The proposed metro depot at Shettigere, which will service the 38.44-km airport line, is set to clear the last land acquisition hurdle.
The KIADB is acquiring the final five acres of land required for the depot-workshop, which will be located on the right side of Ballari Road near the trumpet toll plaza in northern Bengaluru. The depot will be necessary for stabling and maintaining trains.
The BMRCL needed 91,532 square metres (22.62 acres) for the Shettigere depot. It quickly got about 18 acres because the land belonged to the state government. However, acquiring the remaining five acres proved tricky because of a dispute over who actually owned the land. While government records showed it was gomala (pasture land), 11 individuals also claimed ownership. The stalemate continued for months.
Due to the dispute, the KIADB sent the money for acquiring the two acres to court. It has also received money from the BMRCL for acquiring two more acres and will also deposit it in court soon, a well-placed source in the KIADB said.
The remaining 4,498.609 sq ft (1.11 acres), has been notified and will be acquired soon, the source added.
M S Channappagoudar, general manager (Land Acquisition), BMRCL, is hopeful the entire process will be completed in the next two months. He said the BMRCL would get possession of the land as soon as the money was deposited in court. He added that no landowner had a problem giving the land. “The issue is only with apportioning compensation, not with acquisition per se,” he told DH.
The BMRCL last year opened technical bids for the Shettigere depot and sent them to the Asian Development Bank, which is funding the project. It will soon invite financial bids. Until the Shettigere depot gets ready, the airport line will be serviced by the Baiyappanahalli depot, which is being remodelled.
Construction of viaducts is slowly resuming on the airport line, which was marred by the fatal accident last month.
Metro to acquire land from BSY-linked firm
The KIADB is set to acquire three land parcels measuring 4,182.63 square metres (45,021.45 sq ft) at Veerannapalya, near Nagavara, for building a receiving station for the airport metro line. Two of these properties — 2.762.93 square metres — are owned by Davalagiri Property Developers Pvt Ltd. Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa’s sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra and his son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar are directors of the firm.
The KIADB recently completed the inquiry process and a source said the firm didn’t raise any objections to land acquisition.
It will be paid twice the current market rate.