Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project to finish by December 2027: Minister M B Patil
Bengaluru: The Minister was speaking to reporters here at the signing of the MoU between the Karnataka government and the KfW Development Bank of Germany for funding the BSRP project. The bank will lend ₹4,561 crore at an annual interest rate of four per cent interest for 20 years.
N Manjula, Managing Director of K-RIDE (Rail Infrastructure Development Company-Karnataka), which is the nodal agency to complete the project, and Wolf Muth, Country Director, KFW Development Bank signed and exchanged the documents in the presence of Patil, who holds the infrastructure development portfolio.
This is the supplementary agreement between Germany's KfW Development Bank and K-RIDE followed by the primary agreement on December 15, 2023 between the Department of Economic Affairs of the Government of India and KfW for the disbursal of ₹4,561 Crore.
"We intend to complete all the four corridors by December 2027," the Minister said.
According to him, the funding is for Corridor-1 from Bengaluru City Railway Station to Devanahalli and Corridor-3 from Kengeri to Whitefield.
"We have not yet started Corridor-1 and Corridor-3 for want of funds. Now that we have got funds we will take up the project," the minister explained.
Phase one of Corridor-2 from Chikkabanavara to Yeshwantpur will be completed by June 2025 and phase two from Yeshwantpur to Benniganahalli will be finished by June 2026. From Benniganahalli to Rajanukunte stretch under Corridor-4 will be completed in December 2026, Patil said.
Corridor-1 has been split into two parts. The first part from Yelahanka to Devanahalli will be finished by December 2026 while Bengaluru City to Yelahanka will be completed by December 2027.
The Minister also underlined that the BSRP will not compete with the Metro Rail project but complement it. He also promised to resolve the land acquisition issue pertaining to the Corridor-1 and Corridor-3.
Manjula said, "The project has been planned like the Metro. It has been designed to have a train service every 90 seconds. The operational issues will be decided on the passenger footfall."
The time limit of December 2027 is contradictory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 40-month deadline to finish the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project, which pegged the completion date as December 2025.
While laying the foundation stone of BSRP in Bengaluru in June 2022, the Prime Minister had said that "what had not happened in the past 40 years will be completed in the next 40 months".
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
