Boost for Metro extension as UP to transfer land to DMRC

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday agreed to transfer 10.55 acres of agricultural-river bed land in Okhla and Jasola villages of West UP to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The transfer of land will facilitate the construction of Phase III of the Delhi Metro project - from Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden (line 8).

The decision, the UP government said in an official statement, was taken following a demand for land raised by the DMRC. The land, currently owned by UP's irrigation department, will be transferred to DMRC at the prescribed circle rates notified by the irrigation department - twice the circle rates in urban areas and four time in rural parts. Since the identified tract of land falls in the rural category, DMRC will have to cough up Rs 68.90 lakh per acre of land. The government said the 10.55 acres of land will be transferred in the name of DMRC once the construction agency pays a total of Rs 29.07 crore to UP's department of irrigation.

But hurdles remain in the implementation of the Ghaziabad Metro extension project. The second phase of the Metro is in limbo, owing to a resource crunch. While various development agencies and departments of the UP government had promised to bear part of the cost of implementing the second phase of the Ghaziabad Metro rail in March 2013, they have since been dragging their feet over the release of funds. The state government had decided to divide the funding between four UP agencies - Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, the State Industrial Development Corporation, and the Aawas Vikaas Parishad. Senior UP government functionaries said, however, the agencies had still not released money to DMRC, resulting in the tardy progress of the metro extension project. Source: Times of India