Metro Phase 4 to be cleared by Delhi cabinet likely by next week, says transport minister
NEWDELHI : After a wait of almost three years, the Delhi Metro is a step closer to receiving a go-ahead to begin construction on phase 4, which will add six more routes to the now 314-km network.
The routes proposed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been given the financial clearance and it will be approved in the next cabinet meeting, likely by next week, Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot said on Wednesday.
“We had some reservations about the proposed routes but keeping the larger public interest in mind, we will clear phase 4 in the next cabinet meeting,” he said.
The announcement was made during the flagging off of the 17.86-km Shiv Vihar-trilokpuri section of the Pink Line at Metro Bhawan, in the presence of union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and Northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari.
The six routes proposed by the DMRC — Mukundpur-maujpur (12.54 km), Rithala-narela (21.73 km), Tughlakabad-aerocity (20.20 km), Inderlok-indraprastha (12.58 km), Lajpat NagarSaket G-block (7.96 km) and Janakpuri (west)-rk Ashram (28.92 km) — were awaiting clearance from the Delhi government, which said that two of the routes were financially not viable.
However, the Union minister was not convinced by the Delhi government’s assurance.
“We will open a box of sweets only when a formal announcement for the Metro phase 4 project is made. At several Metro inaugurations (Arvind) Kejriwal has said that they will clear the proposal but nothing has happened till now,” Puri maintained on Wednesday.
After the formal inauguration at 9.30am, the third section of the Pink Line was made operational for public from 2pm.
Tiwari said till now the Metro network had only touched the northeast district of the city, but it was for the first time that it was making way into this part of the city.
“People have been waiting for the Metro to reach their areas for years. The coming of the line there (northeast) will ease the lives of several poor families,” Tiwari said.
The first few hours after the line was opened for public, commuters were seen confused, trying to figure out the multiple changeovers at Maujpur and Indraprastha Extension to reach Trilokpuri.
“This section will be extremely conveniently for me but I found the changeovers a little difficult to understand. There were regular announcements and the Delhi Metro staff was there to guide us through the station, but this will take some time to get used to,” said Shaleen Alam, a resident of Jafrabad (east).