Delhi Metro Phase 4: There is good news for Delhiites. The proposed metro rail line from Rithala to Kundli in Delhi, pending for more than 20 years, may soon get cabinet approval. PIB has given its approval to this metro line.
New Delhi: The long pending proposed metro rail line from Rithala to Kundli in Delhi may soon get cabinet approval. The Public Investment Board working under the Finance Ministry has given its approval to this line. After getting the approval of the board, in a way this line has got financial approval. Now it is expected that this line may also get approval from the cabinet of the central government soon.
This metro line can be built in the fourth phase
This line was proposed for the fourth phase. Since then this line is under consideration. If the cabinet also approves this line, then the Red Line Metro running from Ghaziabad to Rithala will be extended to Kundli in Haryana. In this way, Kundli will become the sixth city of NCR, where the metro will reach from Delhi. In this way, the length of this line will also increase to 60 km and the number of its stations will increase to 50. Currently this red line is from Ghaziabad bus stand to Rithala.
Approval from PIB
Any line of Delhi Metro has to get approval from Public Investment Board (PIB) before getting approval from the cabinet. On Saturday, DDA has informed that PIB has given its approval to the 26.5 km long metro rail line going from Rithala to Kundli via Narela and DDA will also give Rs. 1000 crore out of the amount spent in the construction of this line. Sources say that this line will be completely elevated and will cover many areas of Delhi rural. For the construction of this line, the people of Delhi rural had been pressurizing the government through agitation for the last few years. Earlier, proposals like running light rail on this line were also prepared but later they were changed. Now there is a proposal to extend this line to Kundli. It is expected that if it gets the approval of the cabinet soon, then the construction work of this line can also start early next year.
Names of proposed stations
After Rithala, Rohini Sector 25, Sector 26, Sector 31, Sector 32, Sector 36, Barwala, Rohini Sector 35, Sector 34, Barwala Industrial Area, Bawana Industrial Area, Bawana JJ Colony, Sannoth, New Sannoth, Depot Station, Bhorgarh, Narela Anaj Mandi, Narela DDA Sports Complex, Narela, Narela Sector-5, Kundli and Nathupur.
Waiting for this line for 20+ years…
The rural area of North West Delhi had to wait for more than 20 years for the approval of the metro. Interestingly, the proposal to build this line was kept in the first phase itself. But at that time the metro line of this part was shifted to New Delhi area. After that, consideration on this line started after 15 years and now it has got approval from PIB.
Know the history of this metro line
When the construction work of Delhi Metro was started in 1998. At that time, three lines were proposed. The first of these lines was from Shahdara to Bawana, DU to Central Secretariat and Barakhamba Road to Dwarka. But the Shahdara to Bawana line was limited to Rithala only. At that time, it was argued that the area after Rithala does not have enough population to require a metro, so construction work was not done on the area beyond Rithala. After that, it was decided that instead of constructing the line beyond Rithala, construction should be done from Barakhamba Road to Indraprastha, because the metro will get more passengers for places like ITO. After this, when the first phase of the metro construction was completed, the construction work of the metro line from Barakhamba Road to Indraprastha was started. Since then, the proposal to extend the Rithala line further kept moving in the files. First, a proposal was made to run a light rail on this line. After that, this proposal was changed and the construction of an elevated line was considered. After this, a proposal came that it should be extended till the Delhi-Haryana border. This proposal was also under consideration for almost a year. However, in the meantime, there were protests from the rural areas of Delhi demanding the construction of this line. After the approval of PIB, the hopes of this line coming on track soon have increased.
