Supreme Court orders start of work for Phase IV of Delhi Metro

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta directed the authorities to start construction work on the 100km line that is estimated to add around 18.6 lakh riders per day to the Delhi Metro system.

The Supreme Court ordered the start of work on Delhi Metro’s Phase IV expansion on Friday after Delhi government said it had agreed to give a go-ahead to the project.

The Supreme Court ordered the start of work on Delhi Metro’s Phase IV expansion on Friday after Delhi government said it had agreed to give a go-ahead to the project. (Representative Image) (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta directed the authorities to start construction work on the 100km line that is estimated to add around 18.6 lakh riders per day to the Delhi Metro system.

Delhi covernment counsel, senior advocate Dhruv Mehta, informed the court that his client had decided not to withhold permission to the work even as its dispute with the Centre over sharing of land cost and taxes remained.

Senior advocate Aparajita Singh who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae suggested fixing a date to resolve the dispute. Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, said that financial pattern — similar to what was followed in earlier phases of the Metro — would be followed for Phase IV project also. He said the same pattern was followed for metro projects in other cities like Bhopal, Indore, Kanpur, Patna and Agra.

The bench, however, agreed with Singh’s suggestion to resolve the dispute after hearing both the parties and fixed July 19 as next date of hearing.

The Phase IV of Delhi Metro will consist six corridors — Aerocity to Tughlakabad, Inderlok to Indraprastha, Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block, Mukundpur to Maujpur, Janakpuri West to R K Ashram and Rithala to Bawana and Narela.

Under the Centre’s existing policy on Metro construction, land cost for a project is borne by the state government. However, AAP-led government in Delhi has contended that the Centre must share fifty per cent of the land cost. Similarly, it wants the Centre to even bear fifty per cent of the burden when it comes to payment of taxes and also if the DMRC defaults on the Japanese loan taken for the project.

The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA), which recently filed a report in the Apex court, had drawn the top court’s attention to the deadlock between Delhi Government and Centre. Underscoring the importance of the Phase IV project, it said the Metro “will add significantly to the public transport infrastructure in the city. This combined with buses and last-mile connectivity (pedestrian and other facilities) would greatly improve the public transport network in the city and provide options for car-free travel”.

Of the 103.94km to be constructed, 37.01 km will be underground, while around 66.92km will be elevated. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 46,845crore.

As per Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), its operational network is 343km with current average daily ridership of nearly 28 lakh.

On the last hearing, Singh had called upon the bench to intervene and resolve the pending cost-sharing issue. She informed the court that the approval for “103.94 km Phase IV of the Delhi Metro has been held up since 2014, when the project was submitted to the Union government for its approval”.