Will City Railway Station ever see the Metro?

BANGALORE: The railways has directed Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to stop the ongoing Metro work on the three sites that were taken on lease from the railway board, around Bangalore City Railway Station allegedly for not complying with the railway safety norms as accepted by them earlier.According to the sources in the railways, the Divisional Railway Manager asked the BMRCL to stop the work at all the sites — Aiyappaswamy Temple Road, Railway Quarters and Platform Road — after the BMRCL turned down the railways request to take some precautions to prevent the water logging near the railway quarters and to ensure the safety of the railway employees who are staying there. The BMRCL also turned down the railways’ request to provide security to the quarters that are constructed by it for the railway employees who would be displaced due to the construction work in one of the sites.The BMRCL Spokesperson BLY Chauhan said, “The railways is asking us to do the works that are not related to the BMRCL. We were not willing to do the work as we have already paid `98 crore for the sites in which we are working. They cannot accuse us of not complying with the safety standards as we are following the best safety standards and have employed some of the international safety consultants for that purpose.”Chauhan also said that the divisional railway manager did not attend the recent high power committee meeting that was convened to resolve the issue and therefore the BMRCL has complained to the South Western Railways General Manager about the same. If the deadlock between the railways and the BMRCL is not resolved at the earliest the Metro work that is already getting delayed for various reasons might be delayed further.