Chandigarh: An important meeting will be held today under the chairmanship of UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria regarding the metro project in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. Senior officials of Chandigarh Administration, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Airport Authority will attend this meeting.
Various aspects of the metro project including its utility, budget and fare will be discussed in the meeting. Apart from this, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh administration will give their suggestions and objections regarding the metro project.
These questions arose in the last meeting
In the meeting held on January 28, a report prepared by RITES, headed by senior Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka, was presented in which many questions were raised. After this, the UT Administrator constituted a committee headed by Chief Engineer CB Ojha, which was directed to prepare a report on the current status of the metro system running in other cities of the country.
Cost of Metro project and proposed route
According to the RITES report, the estimated cost of the metro project in Tricity is about 22 thousand crore rupees. Three corridors are proposed in this, whose total length will be 85.65 kilometers.
Chandigarh – 40.24 kms
Mohali – 31.75 kms
Panchkula – 13.66 kms
Questions about fares and ridership
In the last meeting, questions were also raised about the Metro fare. The committee had asked whether the Metro fare would be affordable for the common man and whether people would prefer to travel in the Metro over buses. Apart from this, questions were also raised about the estimation of the number of passengers per hour.
Other options will also be discussed
Other options like Metro Lite, Metro Neo, Pod Taxi, BRT and PRT will also be considered in the meeting. Apart from this, short routes connecting Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport and ring road in Tricity will also be discussed. In the last meeting, Punjab government officials had suggested that any project should be prepared keeping in mind at least 25 to 30 years.