Metro rail authorities in Bengaluru on Tuesday dismissed a media report stating that there is a crack on pillar number 301 near the Vijayanagar station. The report aired by Suvarna News on Monday has said the pillar 301 had developed a crack. The same report was published on Youtube with the title “Ground Report | 'Namma Metro' Pillar Develops Crack Near Vijayanagara.”
There is no crack or damage. This news is totally false. https://t.co/Vz4CO0LDGi
— BMRCL (@cpronammametro) February 25, 2020
Reacting to this, a Twitter user had asked the metro officials to clarify on the status of the pillar on Tuesday morning, to which BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited) said that the report was fake.
Speaking to TNM, Ravi Prakash, BMRCL General Manager (Public Relations) said that the report was misleading as it had mistaken a marking on the bridge structure as a crack on the pillar.
He said, “There is no reason to worry. This is just part of the regular maintenance work that BMRCL undertakes on a regular basis by the engineers. So wherever there are issues that need to be looked at, our engineers go and check on it. But they (the TV channel) did not even inform us or reach out to any officials. This has led some people to panic.”
He added, “Do you think we will put the lives of these many (commuters) into risk if there is damage to the bridge? You have seen previously whenever there is a need for long-term work, we plan and stop running trains for the required number of hours.”
He clarified there has been no further checking done by the officials following the reports suggesting that the engineers and other concerned officials are well aware of the condition of the bridge. “We know what the situation is. We cannot jump to wrong conclusions based on this,” he said.
Previously in a similar instance in April 2019, BMRCL has dismissed media reports stating that a Metro pillar near South End Circle station had developed cracks. Then the BMRCL had said there was no crack either on pillar number 67 and 66.