Political slugfest over Metro Phase-4 ‘delay’
OPPOSITION TARGETS AAP
NEW DELHI: The opposition BJP and Congress on Tuesday lashed out at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime in Delhi over a report in Hindustan Times that Metro construction would come to a halt in Delhi after 20 years because the Delhi government was yet to approve the network’s Phase 4 expansion.
Work on Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 will be completed by the end of this year and with no approval for Phase 4, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would for the first time have no work in any part of Delhi since it started construction in 1998.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday said politics should be set aside and Metro’s Phase 4 should be cleared at the earliest keeping the interest of Delhiites in mind. “It is almost like Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has pledged to push back the city by 20 years. The people of Delhi have given you 67 out of 70 seats, even then you do not want to clear Metro’s Phase 4,” Tiwari said.
Tiwari tweeted, urging Kejriwal to speed up clearances as the delay would lead to financial losses. “What are you doing Kejriwal ji? You have taken Delhi 20 years behind. There is still time to clear the proposal for Metro’s Phase 4. Once the infrastructure is moved, it will require a lot of HT had reported on Tuesday that work on
Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 will be completed by the end of this year and with no approval for the Phase 4, the DMRC will for the first time have no work in any part of Delhi since it started construction in 1998
BJP says the delay will push back Delhi by 20 years
The Congress says development has stalled under AAP time and also cost the exchequer crores of money to re-mobilise it. Have some sense of responsibility,” Tiwari said in his tweet.
However, Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government was under the impression that the Centre would clear Phase 4 by itself since MOS for urban affairs Hardeep Puri had said so.
“Puri ji had said that he would provide funds himself (for Metro Phase 4). We thought they would be doing so,” Sisodia said.
The Congress also criticised the AAP government on Tuesday with senior party leader Aman Panwar saying that under the Congress government, Phase 1 and 2 of Metro were completed before the deadline. However, since 2015, when the new govern- ment took over, development work in the city had come to a standstill, Panwar said.
“Public transport system in Delhi is in a shambles and the government was sitting on Metro Phase 4 for no reason,” Panwar said.
The DMRC had sent the proposal to the Delhi government for the clearance of six routes — Janakpuri West-r K Ashram (28.92 km), Mukundpur-maujpur (12.54 km), Inderlok-indraprastha (12.58 km ), Lajpat Nagar-saket G Block (7.96 km), Rithala-narela (21.73 km) and Tughlakabad-terminal 1 (22 km) — in 2015. The proposal, however, is yet to be cleared by AAP government. Once cleared by the state government, the Centre would approve the project.