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State approves Swargate to Katraj underground metro route extension
As the state government has cleared the metro route, the proposal will move to the Centre, whose clearance will allow the work to begin
The state government on Wednesday gave a nod for Swargate to Katraj underground metro route extension and approved a share of Rs450.95 crore for the project.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had cleared the extension of the underground metro rail route, a distance of 5.4km in September 2021 and sent a proposal for approval to the state government. As the state government has cleared the metro route, the proposal will move to the Centre, whose clearance will allow the work to begin.
The total project cost is Rs3,668 crore and it is expected to be completed by April 2027.
On March 6, two city routes of the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro) - Vanaz to Garware college (4.91 km) and Pimpri to Phugewadi (7.03km) were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This clearance by the state government will further boost the metro work in the city.
Pune district guardian minister and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar took interest in the project and gave a nod for the underground metro stretch.
Earlier, Pawar had said that the state government has decided to fund the project despite escalated costs due to the underground metro rail. “In the earlier meeting with the authorities, I had told them, the Swargate-Pimpri route can be expanded till Katraj and the route was approved. In the route expansion, there is the share of corporations and state and centre governments. The Centre should play its part, and the corporation (PMC) will play its part,” Pawar had said.
The state government requested the central government to give a nod for the project and its share of Rs440.32 crore.
It also gave nod to borrow Rs1,803.79 crore loan from the financial institutions but the repayment would be done by Maha-Metro and the state government would not take any burden for same.
Atul Gadgil, project director, Maha-Metro, said, “We have cleared one hurdle as we have got state government nod. Now, the Urban Development Department nod would help commence work on this extension of route.”
The Maha Vikas Agadi government and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are both taking credit for metro work in the city. Earlier, some BJP members were planning to change the route and there was controversy over elevated or underground metro routes on Swargate to Katraj stretch.
Maha-Metro had prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) much earlier but the ruling BJP did not take any decision on the proposal for many months in the general body meeting. But after a lot of criticism, BJP gave a nod to the proposal and submitted it to the state government for final approval.
