A little over three months after Tamil Nadu MP from the Krishnagiri constituency A Chellakumar placed a proposal before Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai to extend the Bangalore Metro to Hosur, the CM has given the green signal.
News18 had reported how the extension by around 20 kilometres from Karnataka’s Bommasandra to Tamil Nadu’s Hosur will benefit both states tremendously. The industrial town of Hosur in TN shares its borders with India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, and the extension of the Metro line would provide a much-needed boost to industries in both states — the upcoming electronics manufacturing and electric mobility hub Hosur and well-established IT hotspot Bengaluru. The go-ahead by Bommai will help in the “last-mile connectivity” of Karnataka’s Namma Metro (Our Metro) between Hosur and Bengaluru. According to mobility experts, 10 to 15 thousand employees travel between Hosur and Bengaluru on a daily basis.
In terms of location, Hosur is about 20.5 kilometres away from Bengaluru’s Bommasandra Metro terminal. In this, 11.7 km falls within Karnataka and the remaining 8.8 km in TN. The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation states that “it requires utmost coordination between both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and sharing the project cost and monetary support during operations for the public transport system connecting these two points”.
In March, a meeting was held between Chellakumar, Bommai, and Karnataka’s leader of opposition Siddaramaiah to discuss the merits of the proposal. Bommai had then responded positively towards conducting a fact-finding study on the proposal. Now, he has put the onus on the Tamil Nadu government to “conduct the study for the line between Bommasandra and Hosur”.
In a letter accessed by News18 to the housing and urban affairs ministry secretary, the managing director of Namma Metro, Anjum Parwez, states, “The proposal to extend Metro Line from Bommasandra to Hosur was submitted to the Government of Karnataka and the Hon’ble Chief minister has approved the proposal with the noting that Tamil Nadu Government can conduct the study for the line between Bommasandra and Hosur.”
Hosur is fast growing into a nerve centre for electric vehicle (EV) engineering and houses over 4,000 MSMEs. Homegrown industry giants such as TVS Motors, Ashok Leyland, Tata Electronics, and Taiwan’s Delta Electronics have set up massive manufacturing units in Hosur and Krishnagiri with their operations and communications offices in Bengaluru.
Speaking about the development to News18, Chellakumar said that in principle the BMRCL has in its letter to the ministry of housing and urban affairs in Delhi stated that the Karnataka government has given its approval.
“We are awaiting a formal communication of the same to the Tamil Nadu government,” Chellakumar told this reporter. “A major part of the Metro work will come under Karnataka, so after my discussion with MD of Chennai Metro, he suggested that the Bangalore Metro conduct the DPR (detailed project report) for this extension. Namma Metro has already been operating the Metro service and would also be the one operating this extended line on a daily basis. BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited) will be in a better position to assess and provide the DPR. We are ready to bear the cost that would involve from TN’s side,” he said.
The MP also added that he would be meeting TN chief minister MK Stalin soon to discuss the Hosur-Bengaluru extension and the proposal of asking BMRCL to prepare the DPR.
“I will then meet with Bommai and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah on the further course of action. I am also very thankful for their cooperation in this matter,” he further said.
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