E-Paper
No Metro project proposal submitted by Chandigarh admn, says Centre
Minister of state in the ministry of housing and urban affairs Tokhan Sahu mentioned, “Presently, no proposal for a Metro project in Chandigarh has been submitted by the concerned UT administration to the central government.”
In response to a question raised by Chandigarh member of Parliament Manish Tewari regarding the Metro project in the Parliament on Thursday, the ministry of housing and urban affairs stated that no proposal for the project has been submitted to them by the Chandigarh administration.
In his reply, minister of state in the ministry of housing and urban affairs Tokhan Sahu mentioned, “Presently, no proposal for a Metro project in Chandigarh has been submitted by the concerned UT administration to the central government.”
In July last year, 23 members of the Unified Metro Transportation Authority (UMTA) had approved the Tricity Metro project and decided to extend the scope of the project for Phase 1 from 66 km to 89 km. However, even after a year, the UT administration has failed to prepare the detailed project report (DPR).
Tewari asked the ministry to state the amount of funds sanctioned and utilised for the Chandigarh Metro Rail project. He also inquired whether the Chandigarh Metro Project was planned in a phase-wise manner and, if so, requested details of the progress made so far.
Tewari also sought the reasons for the delay in the project and whether any timeline had been fixed for its completion, requesting details if available.
Sahu responded that “urban planning” was a state subject and, therefore, the respective state governments/UT administrations were responsible for planning, initiating and developing urban transport infrastructure, including integration among various modes of public transport.
He specified that the central government had formulated the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), 2006, the Metro Rail Policy, 2017, and the Transit-Oriented Development Policy, 2017, which guided state governments/UT administrations in the integrated planning and implementation of urban transport systems.
The central government provided financial assistance for urban rail-based systems based on the feasibility of the proposal and the availability of resources, as and when submitted by the concerned state governments/UT administrations, the minister added.
The Metro project, with a total length of about 77 km in Phase-I, is proposed to be developed between 2027 and 2037. In Phase-II (beyond 2037), a network of about 77.5 km in length has been planned.
In July, in line with the recommendations of the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee’s sub-panel, the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) had given its nod to running the Metro lines in heritage sectors (1 to 30) fully underground.
