Greed, corruption shake Metro's pillar of probity

Namma Metro is turning out to be a white elephant and a dangerous one at that.  It was supposed to kill the biggest demon of Bengaluru, its traffic, but it may end up killing its people instead due to its pathetic construction and questionable maintenance.

The cost of construction of the Metro Rail has always been mindboggling, running into tens of thousands of crores, although it caters to a dismal five per cent of commuters every day. When the BMTC claims to serve 50 lakh commuters, autos/taxis ferry around 10 lakh passengers every day,  and a large chunk of commuters use their own  two and four-wheelers to get around the city, the four lakh passengers that the Metro carries is a pittance.

Looking at the Metro's cost of construction, its usability and the alternate solution it provides, one wonders why one has ended up paying one's hard earned money for it. When buses and the suburban rail cost a fraction of the cost of  Metro construction, why do our governments spend lavishly on Metro connectivity?

Metro phase I ended up costing around Rs 14,000 crore and phase-II will cost Rs 32,000 crore, going by the latest figures, by the time its gets ready in five to 10 years. On the other hand, the RITES study of suburban rail connectivity between Heelalige (Electronic City) and the international airport near Devanhalli says it will cost just Rs 1,500 crore to build as most of the infrastructure is already in place. It will not only help air travellers reach the airport faster and for a  cheaper fare, but also reduce traffic between KR Puram and the Silk Board junction to a large extent.

Unlike Metro connectivity to the airport, which won’t take less than five to seven years  to build at a cost of Rs 14,000 crore, suburban trains to the airport could run within months.

So why does the government always take the costly and often wasteful route? The answer points to a nexus between the decision-makers and contractors, who get paid for expensive projects. Why else wouldn’t the government buy more buses for the BMTC to expand its services to new routes or improve their frequency, which is far easier accomplished? When you can manage finances or get loans for the Metro lines, why don’t you have funds for the BMTC or help it cover its losses?

Do we really need the elevated corridor costing Rs 25,000 crore, when the existing infrastructure is coming undone due to poor quality construction? Bridges and flyovers are constructed to last 50 to 100 years, but the Hebbal flyover has already started wobbling whenever a heavy truck passes on it. The BDA, the agency that was supposed to maintain it, says it  has not maintained  it for 15 years. Although it did spend Rs 40 lakhs in between, it won’t tell us why. A team of experts from the BDA “just looked” at the flyover this September and certified it fit.  If not for stress tests, they should have at least taken a ride on it.
Other flyovers too may end up in the same condition sooner or later unless testing and maintenance work is done regularly. However, their construction won’t stop either in the form of the elevated corridors or Metro connectivity thanks to the costs involved.

While cracks in Metro pillars do have serious implications in terms of safety and lifespan of the structure, the main question is why has it been built at all?  We could have added thousands of buses, installed automatic signalling for suburban trains, and provided a few thousands of e-vehicles as last mile connectivity, instead of spending Rs 32,000 crore on Metro phase II or Rs 25,000 crore on the elevated corridors.

Spending one or two thousand crores would have given us Yelahanka to Heelalige connectivity, while reducing 25 per cent of the traffic on the way to the airport.  Providing buses for last mile connectivity from all tech parks to  Metro stations or TTMC bus terminals would hardly cost a few thousand crores and save commuters' time and also take thousands of cars off choked streets.
These issues have been raised by the people of Bengaluru for  many years. There have been protests and meetings, but they have all fallen on deaf ears, seemingly due to the politician-contractor nexus.

Numerous crucial infrastructure project have been delayed or abandoned due to pressure from transport lobbies. They include the track doubling on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad route, the delay in completion of the Bengaluru-Hassan line, and the running of more trains between important cities and Bengaluru.
The people have for long been demanding a suburban rail for the city , but the authorities have neither installed the automating signals required or built the stations/halts. They won’t even run the trains on time for local commuting or run them at odd times (11am for Tech Parks), under pressure from taxi lobbies.
The cost of this nexus is not only paid by the taxpayers' money, but also in terms of loss of health due to pollution. Unless this nexus is broken, we , the citizens, will continue to suffer in multiple ways and even end up paying with our lives in case of mishaps due to poor quality of work or lack of maintenance of the existing infrastructure.

(The writer is President, Nagarika Shakti)