Namma Metro might have started its operations only on Thursday but it has already started earning carbon credits for Bangalore, environment and ecology minister Krishna Palemar claimed.
Namma Metro might have started its operations only on Thursday but it has already started earning carbon credits for Bangalore, environment and ecology minister Krishna Palemar claimed.
He told DNA that the Metro would take people off their vehicles, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emission. He said the first phase had been designed to carry 30,000 people between Baiyappanahalli and MG Road and, experts had told him, about three lakh people would use the Metro every day once all the four phases are complete. “Imagine so many people leaving their vehicles and hopping on to the Metro,” he said.
The minister added that in the coming days, experts would study the Metro’s effect on environment. However, sources in Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) pointed out a discrepancy. They said the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has not collected the air and water samples before the Metro started and thus had no figures to compare the condition of environment with the post-Metro scenario.
‘Traffic problems to persist’
Another important question is, will the Metro ease the traffic condition of Bangalore? BMRCL advisor MN Sreehari does not think so. “When all the corridors are completed, there could be 18%-22% reduction in traffic, but that is no matter for cheer as the thinning effect will be along the corridors. Traffic conditions in the rest of Bangalore will be the same until last-mile connectivity is achieved by a network of monorail and other types of mass-transit systems,” he said.
According to a rough estimate, Metro’s Phase I will cater to about 30,000 people every day. Sreehari said if these many people abandon their private vehicles and hop on to the Metro, traffic situation might indeed ease along the route of Phase I. “Along the Metro corridor, traffic snarls will reduce. Earlier, driving along this corridor was a bad experience as every traffic snarl drained the motorist of precious fuel,” he said.
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