The new diversion road in front of the Bengaluru Cantonment railway station was opened in February and dug up in August.
Credit: DH Photo/S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: The South Western Railway (SWR) has dismissed allegations of poor coordination with Bengaluru's civic agencies over the ongoing work on Cantonment Station Road in the heart of the city.
In February, the railways opened a 24-metre-wide, four-lane diversion road in what was once the parking lot in front of the city's oldest train station. This was part of an arrangement with the BBMP to utilise the old 14-metre-wide main road in front of the station to construct new basement parking (in two levels) under the terminal’s Rs 480-crore redevelopment project.
However, the road was dug up on the right side in August to lay underground water and power pipelines.
On November 1, DH carried a news article titled 'Opened in February, brand new Bengaluru Cantt station road in a bad state' to highlight the issue. The report quoted Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad and Jagath Mallikarjuna, Inspector of Works, SWR.
In a statement, Manjunath Kanamadi, Chief Public Relations Officer, SWR, has clarified certain facts about the condition of the road.
"For diversion of two water and sewage pipelines and electrical cables existing under the old road, a comprehensive plan was developed in coordination with utility owning agencies (BBMP, BWSSB, Bescom, KPTCL and the traffic police)."
"To minimise inconvenience to city dwellers, diverted utilities were planned on the 4.7-metre-wide lane at the end of the footpath and were laid by carrying out works at night-time after obtaining all requisite approvals and barricading," he stated.
According to the SWR, the connection of old and new alignment of water and electrical utilities has been planned in November after the festival season in consultation with utility owners BWSSB and the KPTCL.
According to Kanamadi, temporary repairs of the disturbed portion of road are being done regularly while the "permanent restoration" will take place after the new utilities are commissioned. All works will be completed by November 30, 2024, he added.
In another statement, the railways specified that water, sewer, electrical and telecommunication lines were found during the excavation for the parking basement.
"In order to provide the desired facilities for passengers in the new station, these amenities, belonging to various other departments of the government of Karnataka, are necessary to be shifted," it said.
It said the work to shift the utilities was awarded in June 2024.
"For final completion, the BWSSB has to give shutdown of water lines for connection and the letter for the same has been written. 66 kV jointing bay work will be carried out on November 12, 13, and 14, 2024, which is communicated by the KPTCL. Upon receiving the shutdown date from BWSSB, the connection work will be completed," the SWR stated.