People stand in long queues in front of the Nagasandra metro station on Monday. The queues stretched at least 500 metres from the station.
DH PHOTO
Bengaluru: There is still no official word on when the Green Line metro stretch between Nagasandra and Madavara will open even though it received statutory clearance a month ago.
The 3.14-km line, built nearly eight years ago at a cost of Rs 298.65 crore, has stations at Manjunath Nagar, Chikkabidarakallu, and Madavara.
It received statutory clearance on October 4, but its opening has been delayed for want of government permissions. On October 18, the Urban Development Department wrote to the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Housing and is yet to receive the go-ahead.
On Monday, citizens questioned the delay in opening the line, saying it could have alleviated the severe traffic congestion witnessed on Tumakuru Road as people returned to the city after the long weekend.
BL Yashavanth Chavan, Chief Public Relations Officer, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), said: “We have to follow the protocol. The government has to give us the go-ahead.”
Shankar AS, Executive Director (Operations and Maintenance, BMRCL), said they were “fully ready” to run trains on the new line.
He added that once the Nagasandra-Madavara stretch opens, no Green Line trains will be deployed on the Purple Line.
The BMRCL has 33 trains for the Purple Line and 24 for the Green Line.
“We used to divert some trains earlier, but the situation is tight now. Diverting even one train will disrupt the frequency,” he told DH.
Once the entire Green Line becomes operational, trains will run every five minutes during peak hours and 10 minutes during other times.