Just forget it!

Bangloreans can now forget about taking the Metro on April 4, as the CM's promise of giving the city a Ugadi gift has now been officially pushed tentatively to a later date

Just forget it!

Bangloreans can now forget about taking the Metro on April 4, as the CM's promise of giving the city a Ugadi gift has now been officially pushed tentatively to a later date

After B S Yeddyurappa raised hopes that the city would get a Ugadi gift on April 4, it is now official that the Metro train will not chug out as promised. B L Chavan, chief engineer and spokesperson of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), who conducted the spot inspection yesterday, said, "The Metro train services will not be launched on April 4 since some work is pending.

Be cautious: The BMRCL missed the deadline thrice and is being
cautious about fixing a fresh deadline this time. File pic

He added that safety clearance from the Commissioner for Railway Safety (CSR) is pending, and can be expected shortly, since the procedure is done post the spot inspection. Apart from civil works, technical installations like kilometre readers have to be completed before the CSR inspects."

S Raghu, local MLA representing C V Raman Nagar, and P C Mohan, MP representing Bangalore (Central), accompanied Chavan during the inspection.u00a0The BMRCL missed the deadline thrice and is being cautious about fixing a fresh deadline this time. "The launch of services depends on factors like regulatory issues and safety clearances. So we are not talking about the deadline at this time," said Chavan.

First the deadline for the launch of Reach-1 between Byappanahalli and M G Road was fixed for March 2010 and was changed to December 31, 2010. While the BMRCL was just about able to conduct a technical run of the train in December last year, the deadline was pushed for April 4. In addition, the CM announced that on the scheduled date, the Metro would be the Ugadi gift from the government to Bangaloreans, and that he would invite none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the inauguration.

However, he failed to mention anything about the event when he met the PM in Delhi last week, the report on which was carried by MiD DAY. The BMRCL had planned to take politicians including Raghu, Mohan and Venkiah Naidu, former national president of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member, on a Metro train joy ride yesterday, but were reminded by officials that it would not be possible until safety clearance was issued.

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