BMRC told to finish civil works at two stations

BENGALURU: Amid speculations over the launch of the southern corridor of Namma Metro and the Majestic interchange station, Commissioner of

Metro Rail Safety

(CMRS) K A Manoharan has said he’ll issue the safety certificate only by the end of this week.

The certificate, however, will come with a rider — to first complete civil works at KR Market and Chikpet stations before the service is thrown open to the public. This might push the dates of commissioning the 12-km stretch of the 42-km network between

Sampige Road

in Malleswaram and

Puttenahalli

in south Bengaluru.

The final round of inspections will be held on Thursday. “We may issue the safety certificate by the end of this week (possibly Thursday). But we have set our conditions for BMRC, the key one being to finish all civil works in KR Market and Chickpet stations before the service is thrown open to the public. Passengers shouldn’t be inconvenienced by works within the station premises. It might take them only a few more days but it’s best for citizens. Once the agency finishes the pending works, it’ll have to inform me about the details and then commission the line,” he said.

Manoharan had inspected the works on May 17 and also between May 29 and June 1. He also dismissed rumours of him having given the safety certificate to the CM’s office and said he’d communicate the same to

BMRCL

first. Pradeep Singh Kharola, MD, BMRCL, confirmed that the company hadn’t received the safety certificate yet.

However, the state government is sure to launch the entire first phase of Namma Metro by June-end. The KR Market and Chickpet underground stations were the last to be completed because of delay in tunnelling work.

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