Citizens body urges PM Modi, Siddaramaiah to speed up Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project
Bengaluru (PTI): A citizens' organisation has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to personally intervene to expedite Corridor-1 of the BSRP.
The Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP) was commissioned in 2020 to connect Bengaluru with its suburbs and satellite towns via dedicated rail corridors -- similar to suburban rail systems in Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata.
The project with an estimated cost of Rs 15,767 crore was supposed to be completed in December 2025, but now March 2030 is the fresh deadline given by the Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) (K-RIDE), a joint venture of the Ministry of Railways and the Karnataka government.
The Citizens for Citizens (C4C) has said that there was unacceptable delays in the crucial Majestic-Kempegowda International Airport corridor, a project expected to significantly improve the quality of life for nearly two crore people in and around Bengaluru.
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In a detailed letter to Modi and Siddaramaiah, the group said the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project, being executed by K-RIDE, has fallen far behind schedule despite its strategic importance to the city's public transport ecosystem and the state government holding a 51 per cent stake in the implementing agency.
In the letter to Siddaramaiah on January 23, the C4C founder and convener Rajkumar Dugar said, "BSRP being executed by K-RIDE - in which GoK has 51 per cent stake - is running way behind schedule."
The forum recalled that the project was reviewed by the Prime Minister on December 31, 2025, during which directions were issued for speedy execution.
The citizens' body pointed out that when BSRP was sanctioned in October 2020, Corridor-1 was considered the most vital stretch connecting the city centre to the airport.
The stretch was prioritised for completion within 36 months, which was also endorsed by the State's Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT).
However, Dugar noted that even 63 months after sanction, no on-ground work has commenced on the corridor.
Highlighting the missing deadlines, C4C founder said, "63 months post-sanction, on-ground work is yet to start on Corridor-1, and shockingly, the latest target for completion of C1 is March 2030, i.e., 50 months from now." This, he said, would mean a total of 113 months for a project originally planned for completion in three years.
He requested a strong budgetary allocation for C1 in the upcoming budget as well as facilitation of Land Acquisition (LA) along with directions for C1 to be completed in next 24 months.
"We firmly believe with your kind intervention, January 2028 for commissioning of C1 is 100 per cent doable," Dugar said in his letter to Modi and Siddaramaiah.
While laying foundation stone for the BSRP in June 2022, the Prime Minister had announced that the project which was delayed for 40 years would be completed in 40 months. With this announcement, Modi had set a deadline of December 2025.
As the project delayed, the Karnataka Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil announced in February 2024 that the project would be completed by December 2027.
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Hormuz Strait disruptions have caused huge economic impact, energy instability in region: Navy chief
Mumbai (PTI): The Strait of Hormuz disruptions have caused severe economic impact and energy instability in the region, Indian Navy chief Admiral D K Tripathi said on Thursday amid the war in West Asia.
Speaking at an event where INS Sunayna, an offshore patrol vessel, set sail from Mumbai as Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) Sagar, the admiral said competition at sea has no longer remained confined to oil and energy.
It is now expanding towards resources that will shape future growth - such as rare earth elements, critical minerals, new fishing grounds and even data, he said.
The West Asia crisis began on February 28 after a joint attack by the US and Israel on Iran.
Iran's strikes on its neighbours along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world's energy supplies with effects far beyond West Asia.
"With the conflict in West Asia well into its fifth week, the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have caused severe economic impact and energy instability in the region," Tripathi said.
There is significant increase in the marine survey, deep-sea research activity, and Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU), often encroaching upon the sovereign rights of littoral nations and exploiting gaps in monitoring and enforcement, he said.
Alongside these, threats such as piracy, armed robbery and narco-trafficking backed by unimpeded access of advanced technology to non-state actors, have also become more complex and challenging to counter, the Navy chief pointed out.
Last year alone, the Indian Ocean Region witnessed a staggering 3,700 maritime incidents of varying nature, the admiral said.
Additionally, narcotics seizures in the region exceeded USD 1 billion USD in 2025, highlighting the persistence and spread of such challenges in the region, he said.
