Delhi: SDMC agrees to provide land for Phase-4 Vasant Kunj Metro station

Leader of the house Inderjeet Sehrawat said the Metro Phase 4 segment, from Saket to Aerocity, is a crucial infrastructure project and the corporation has decided to provide municipal land in public interest

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)has decided to allocate a portion of municipal land in Vasant Kunj to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the construction of the Phase 4 Metro station, officials in the know of the matter said Wednesday.

A proposal for allocating the land for the Metro station was cleared by the civic body by the house in a meeting held on Wednesday. (AFP)

A proposal for allocating the land was cleared by the civic body by the house in a meeting held on Wednesday. Leader of the house Inderjeet Sehrawat said the Metro Phase 4 segment, from Saket to Aerocity, is a crucial infrastructure project and the corporation has decided to provide municipal land in public interest.

“If this pocket was not made available, the DMRC would have had to change the alignment of the line. The land will be provided on a no profit, no loss basis,” he said. The civic body will charge DMRC at the rate of ₹5.73 crore per acre, the proposal cleared by the house stated.

The land pocket is managed by the horticulture department of the SDMC. “We received a request from the DMRC to allocate two pockets of land in Vasant Kunj. A land pocket of 175 square metres (sqm) will be allocated for three years, on a temporary basis, while 336.6 metres will be provided on a permanent basis for the construction of entry exit points and lifts to access the station. A joint inspection of the site was carried out by the land and estate department, horticulture wing and DMRC officials,” a senior municipal official said, asking not to be named.

The proposal cleared by the corporation mandates that the allotted land will not be used for commercial purposes without taking prior approval from the corporation. “The DMRC shall not use the allotted land for commercial purpose without taking prior approval; otherwise it shall be liable to pay incidental commercial charges to the SDMC along with a penalty decided by the corporation,” the proposal stated.