Authority goes land hunting for six metro stations on new Noida lines

The Noida authority on Thursday said it has started the process to identify 10,000 sqm land for the construction of six stations for the 6.8-km City Centre-Sector 62 Metro link on which work is currently underway.

The Noida authority on Thursday said it has started the process to identify 10,000 sqm land for the construction of six stations for the 6.8-km City Centre-Sector 62 Metro link on which work is currently underway.

The six stations are part of the 6.8-km City Centre-Sector 62 Metro link on which work is currently underway. It also needs to find land for the 3.9-km Kalindi Kunj-Botanical Garden Metro link. (HT file photo)

Besides this, the authority needs to identify 4,400 sqm land for the 3.9-km Kalindi Kunj-Botanical Garden Metro link. The corporation needs the land to construct a building for security personnel.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has asked the Noida authority to identify the land at the earliest because work on the Botanical Garden line is in an advanced stage and is scheduled to be over by December 2016.

The Noida authority is finding it difficult to identify land along these two routes as there is no vacant government land in these sections.

“We will have to allow construction of five metro stations on the City Center-Sector 62 route in the green belt located along the proposed metro alignment.

The authority may allow the Sector 71 metro station on the same route in a commercial plot. But we do not have any space for the 3.9-km link. There, the authority will have to take land near Kalindi Kunj from the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department,” said a Noida authority official, requesting anonymity. Allowing construction of metro stations in the green belt would mean that hundreds of trees will have to be shifted elsewhere.

On Thursday, Noida authority CEO Rama Raman, along with engineers, reviewed some infrastructure projects, especially those related to the metro lines.

“Work on Kalindi Kunj-Botanical Garden is on in full swing. But we have asked the DMRC to expedite work on the City Centre-Sector 62 project as we have provided all facilities required for the pillar work. We aim to identify land for metro stations in the next 20-30 days so that work is not hampered,” said Pramod Kumar Aggarwal, additional chief executive officer (ACEO) of the Noida authority.

Work on the 6.8-km City Centre- Sector 62 is scheduled to be completed by 2018.