In a major bonanza to commuters from NCR cities, the Urban Development Ministry on Thursday signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Haryana Government for the extension of Central Secretariat to Badarpur Line to YMCA Chowk in Faridabad. The high-profile meeting was presided over by the Minister of Urban Development, Kamal Nath with Chief Minister, Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and officials from Haryana Government and Delhi Metro rail corporation (DMRC). The 13.8-km-long elevated stretch to Faridabad will have nine stations — Sarai, NHPC Chowk, Mewala Maharajpur, Sector 27A, Badkal Mor, Old Faridabad, Ajronda, Faridabad New Town and YMCA Chowk.
The corridor will be the extension of the current Violet line to Faridabad and will run on the standard gauge. According to sources, the approval for the corridor was already at a mature state, with almost all agencies having given its approval. Meanwhile, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has already taken a decision to hand over land to DMRC for setting up of nine Metro stations between Badarpur and YMCA Chowk in Faridabad.
The same meet approved the alignment of the11 km Mundka to Bahadurgarh Metro line with six stations. The move is likely to benefit thousands of daily commuters in the NCR, especially between Haryana and the rural Delhi. With the approval, the number of stations on the Green Line will reach nine. The MoU was signed a day after the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) passed the Detailed Project report (DPR) of the corridor and sent it to the State Transport Authority (STA) for its nod.
The approved six stations include Mundka Industrial Area (MIA), Ghevra, Tikri Border, Delhi Mundka Industrial Estate (MIE), Bus Stand and City Park in Haryana. The new corridor is the extension of the current operational Green Line to Bahadurgarh. The extension is clubbed under the Metro phase III construction and is expected to be completed by the year 2016. A Delhi Metro Rail corporation (DMRC) spokesperson said, “Deviating from the trend of corridors in phase III construction, which will be mostly underground, the extension of the Green Line (Kirti Nagar to Mundka) will be entirely elevated. It will give a boost to the thousands of commuters from the Delhi Border and Bahadurgarh to the city.”
Sources in the Delhi Government informed that the projected cost of the Green Line Corridor is pegged at Rs 1,900 crore, of which 80 percent will be funded by the Haryana Government and the rest 20 percent by the Central Government. The calculation comes to Rs 180 crore from the kitty of the central Government and the remaining Rs 720 crore falling in the Haryana Government’s kitty. The development comes two months after DMRC submitted the updated DPR to the MoUD and the Haryana Government in the last week of October.”
Work on the lines is expected to be undertaken by 2012 as a part of the Delhi Metro’s phase III construction. The spokesperson added, “We have placed an order for additional rolling stock for the line. The Delhi Metro phase III project will have more than 1,800 coaches by the year 2016. Projecting the needs, additional 60 coaches will be required for the Faridabad Line and 32 more coaches will be required for the Green Line ext.
