The wait for the proposed metro project for Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula has gotten longer. The Chandigarh administration has found many shortcomings in the report prepared on this project and has asked the consultant company RITES Limited (RITES) to rectify it again.
On Tuesday, a meeting was held between the Chandigarh administration, Punjab and Haryana officials and RITES company. During this, RITES gave a report on the metro plan, expenses, how many people will travel in the future, how the train will run, where will the electricity come from, how will the route be, how much will it cost and how will the money be raised.
But apart from this, there were many important things which were not recorded in the report. Regarding which, the administration has clearly told RITES that until all these important things are not added to the report, no further decision will be taken on the metro project. Therefore, now RITES will have to prepare the entire report again.
What is in the RITES report
RITES Limited (Rail India Technical and Economic Service), which is a government engineering consultancy company, has done a detailed analysis of traffic demand, zonal analysis, highway network, number of passengers, operational hours, train operation plan, power supply system, construction cost, economic and financial profit-loss etc. in this report.
According to the report, the proposed Metro will be 85.65 km long in 3 corridors. If it is completely elevated (Scenario G), then its cost has been estimated to be ₹ 23,263 crores and if it is underground, then ₹ 27,680 crores. Its total cost by 2031 including construction is estimated to be ₹ 25,631 crores (elevated) and ₹ 30,498 crores (underground).
Understand what this metro project is
This metro project is being built for the people of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, so that the journey can be easy and fast. In November 2024, Chandigarh Administrator and Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria formed a high-level committee to investigate this project.
This committee is looking at how beneficial and necessary it is to build a metro. Two meetings have been held in January and February, but due to errors in the report, the decision on this has now been postponed.
Now when the report comes in properly, only then further plans will be made. For now, the dream of metro will make us wait longer.
