No budgetary allocation for Faridabad Metro, wait gets longer

With no announcement of funds in the Union Budget, the wait for the proposed or pending Metro rail projects to connect Faridabad with Gurugram and Palwal cities seems to be getting longer. The Metro rail connectivity had been one of the promises in the last parliamentary and Assembly polls.

Describing the Budget as listless, Neeraj Sharma, a former MLA from the NIT Assembly segment, said it was a matter of disappointment that despite the preparation of the DPR of the Metro rail project to Gurugram many years ago, the state government and the Centre had failed to allocate funds.

Rail link left in the lurch

The DPR of the 32.14-km-long Faridabad-Gurugram project, to come up at an estimated cost of Rs 5,900 crore, had been prepared by the DMRC long ago

The proposal of the 24-km-long Metro link to Palwal was made in 2023, followed by a feasibility survey on June 27, 2023. It is likely to cost Rs 4,400 crore

It was on April 11, 2016, when the then Chief Minister announced the proposal of a Metro rail corridor to link Faridabad and Gurugram

Alleging that the double-engine government stood exposed over the promises made to people, he said it had been a matter of discontent for thousands of commuters in the wake of no proper or swift public transportation system to connect the two major cities. Anuroop Sehgal, a daily commuter, said as Metro rail was perhaps the only solution to clear the cities of traffic chaos and pollution caused by the movement of a large number of vehicles on a daily basis.

Stressing the Metro facility was of utmost importance, AK Gaur, a resident, said the failure to allocate funds even after four years of DPR was an issue of concern. "The Metro link between the two metropolitan and main commercial hubs of the state contributing major part of the state revenue is the need of the hour. The delay is only prolonging the inconvenience caused due to the burgeoning presence of vehicles on roads," said Ramneek Prabhakar, general secretary, Manufacturers' Association of Faridabad.

The DPR of the 32.14-km-long Faridabad-Gurugram project, to come up at an estimated cost of Rs 5,900 crore, had been prepared by the DMRC long ago. The proposal of the Metro link to Palwal was made in 2023, followed by feasibility survey on June 27, 2023. The cost of the 24-km-long link or passage has been estimated to be around Rs 4,400 crore. It was on April 11, 2016, when the then CM announced the proposal of the Metro rail corridor to link Faridabad and Gurugram. The Metro rail between Faridabad and Gurugram will have proposed nine stations while the Faridabad-Palwal corridor is expected to have 10 to 12 stations.

Mool Chand Sharma, the BJP MLA from Ballabgarh, said the process of preparing the DPR was likely to be taken up this year after a detailed study of all the aspects of the project.