Chandigarh : On a question raised by the Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari regarding the Chandigarh Metro project in the recent Parliament session on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs there is no proposal for this project or any detailed project report (DPR) has been submitted to them by the Chandigarh administration to the central government. Information reveals, in July last year, 23 members of the Unified Metro Transportation Authority had approved nearly 82 kilometer Tricity Metro project and decided to extend the scope of this project in three phases: from New Chandigarh to Sector 28 Panchkula (about 31.70 km), from Sukhna Lake to ISBT Zirakpur via ISBT Mohali and Chandigarh Airport (about 35.70 km) and from Grain Market Chowk to Sector 39 to Sector 26 Transport Light Point. Tewari also asked the ministry to state the amount of funds sanctioned and utilised for the Chandigarh Metro Rail project. He also inquired whether the Chandigarh Metro Project was planned in a phase-wise manner and requested details of the progress made so far and the reasons for the delay in this project and whether any timeline had been fixed for its completion.
It is really surprising that the Chandigarh Metro project to cover Tricity for which nearly 140 meetings have already been held so far and huge amount worth crores of rupees has been spent so far, but this important project is still hanging in files since past about 16 years, which is now becoming a political issue in coming Vidhan Sabha polls and the Congress is likely to ‘gherao’ ruling BJP government on this burning issue and taking no action to finalise this most wanted project for the convenience of residents of Tricity. Information also reveals that former MP Kiran Kher took no action to get this Metro project finalized and this Metro project remained dumped in files without any action due to lack of care.
However, this project came into motion again in March 2023, but as per the latest position DPR yet has not been prepared and submitted for final approval by the government in the centre due to lack of interest by the government in Punjab failed to provide nearly 21 acre area at Mullanpur to develop Metro depot since past six months. However, it is yet to be decided if the metro track will be laid underground or an elevated track, when the Urban Development Ministry will provide approval for the construction of preferably underground metro track. Information also reveals, the proposal to set up the Metro project in Tricity was started in 2007-08. A meeting was arranged in this regard between the chief ministers of Haryana and Punjab by then UT Administrator Banwari Lal Purohit on 16th March 2023, when both states had given approval to start work on this project on 18th April 18, 2023.
According to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, ‘urban planning’ was a state subject and, therefore, the respective state governments/UT administrations were responsible for planning, initiating and developing urban transport infrastructure, including integration among various modes of public transport. According to the Ministry, the central government had formulated the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), 2006, the Metro Rail Policy, 2017 and the Transit-Oriented Development Policy, 2017 which guided state governments/UT administrations in the integrated planning and implementation of urban transport systems, in which the central government provided financial assistance for urban rail-based systems based on the feasibility of the proposal and the availability of resources when submitted by the concerned state governments/UT administrations. According to a spokesperson of the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs had given its nod to running the Metro lines in heritage sectors fully underground.
