One Station Dropped, a City Divided: The Fight to Keep Veterinary College on Namma Metro's Phase 3A Map

In a move to streamline costs and accelerate Central Government approval, BMRCL has quietly dropped the proposed Veterinary College Metro Station from Namma Metro's Phase 3A — the Hebbal–Sarjapur Red Line corridor. The station, originally planned between Mekhri Circle and Ganganagar near Hebbal, has been removed from the revised Detailed Project Report submitted to New Delhi. Now BJP MPs Tejasvi Surya and PC Mohan are pushing back hard, alleging the decision isn't really about savings — but about clearing the way for a car-centric Hebbal tunnel road instead.

What was planned — and what BMRCL quietly removed

The Phase 3A Red Line is a proposed 20.1 km corridor connecting Hebbal in north Bengaluru to Sarjapur Road in the south-east, passing through areas including Ganganagar, Mekhri Circle, Central Business District, and the ORR Tech Cluster. When BMRCL originally prepared its Detailed Project Report for Phase 3A, it included a station at Veterinary College — positioned to serve the dense residential and institutional belt between Mekhri Circle and Ganganagar. In April 2026, BMRCL resubmitted a revised Phase 3A proposal to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with revised cost estimates — and the Veterinary College station was absent.

BMRCL's official position is straightforward: removing the station reduces the total project cost, and a leaner DPR is more likely to get swift Central clearance. Transport experts broadly agree that this framing has merit — the Centre has historically been quicker to approve metro projects that score well on cost-per-km and projected ridership benchmarks. A fewer-station alignment can also reduce construction time on a corridor that is already facing significant land acquisition and viaduct complexity near Hebbal.

The BJP counter: 'This isn't about savings, it's about the tunnel road'

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan have come out strongly against the decision. Their core allegation is that the station was not dropped on technical merit or genuine cost-reduction grounds, but to pave the way for a parallel proposal: a car-centric underground tunnel road beneath the Hebbal flyover corridor. BMRCL has indeed approached IIT Roorkee to study the feasibility of a double-decker design along parts of Phase 3A — a road flyover at a lower level with the metro line above. The MPs argue that quietly removing a pedestrian metro station while simultaneously exploring a tunnel road for private vehicles reveals misaligned priorities for a city that urgently needs better public transit.

Tejasvi Surya specifically disputed BMRCL's 'low ridership' justification for removing the station, pointing out that the Mekhri Circle–Ganganagar belt is one of the more densely populated inner-north Bengaluru clusters — not a low-demand zone. The double-decker controversy also carries a broader significance: the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has itself cautioned that road-plus-metro designs risk encouraging greater private vehicle use and depressing metro ridership — the very outcome that makes a metro project viable over its 30-year lifespan.

What this means for commuters in the Hebbal corridor

If the Veterinary College station stays out of Phase 3A, residents in the Ganganagar–Mekhri Circle catchment will face a longer walk or a feeder trip to reach the nearest Red Line station. This is not a trivial inconvenience on a corridor where first-and-last-mile options are already limited. Metro planners globally recognise that station spacing is a critical demand driver: stations spaced too far apart reduce catchment overlap and push commuters back to road-based options. The dropped station represents a gap in coverage that could affect ridership uptake across the entire Phase 3A corridor, not just near Hebbal.

The political and civic pressure from two sitting MPs is meaningful — but the final call rests with the Centre's appraisal process. If the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs or the appraisal committee flags the station's removal during DPR review, BMRCL may be required to justify or reverse the decision. For now, commuters and urban advocates in north Bengaluru have a narrow window to make their case heard. The NammaConnect community can follow updates via BMRCL's public DPR notifications — and the Phase 3A story is far from its last chapter.