Bengaluru sources have stated that the
last 12-km stretch of the total 42-km first phase of Bengaluru Metro is finally
complete and was inaugurated by
President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday. The metro, cleared in 2006
and under construction for a few years now has been running three years behind
its set schedule. It was supposed to be completed in the year 2014. It has also
resulted in heavy monetary and environment losses to the government.
Meanwhile the Managing Director of Bengaluru Metro Rail
Corporation Pradeep Singh Kharola told that the reasons for the delay were not
unsubstantiated. "There were valid reasons for the delay. You can't work
around the clock and there are some places where you can only work in the
middle of the night."
He further added, "There are areas where you can't use heavy machines, explosives. Bengaluru is sitting on the Deccan plateau it is a very, very hard rock. We had never heard of tunnel boring machines breaking down they are giants. So a machine broke down!"
The section inaugurated today is on the North-South line and
will primarily serve residential areas of the state capital. It is set to cut
travel time for thousands of commuters in the traffic congested city. Presently,
in peak traffic it takes an hour crawl through the same distance.
