First Time In 20 Years, AAP Regime Puts Brakes On Delhi Metro Work; Kejriwal Is Least Interested, Claims Union Minister

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) may not be able to start construction work on phase IV of the Delhi Metro as it has not received the approval of the Delhi government for the same.

Delhi government has not yet given its approval to DMRC for phase IV of the Delhi metro under which six routes have been proposed. The approval is pending with the government since 2015. Once DMRC receives the approval, it will have to send it to the Central government for further approval. The likeliness of the DMRC getting approval for phase IV this year is very low, Hindustan Times has reported.

According to DMRC officials, Phase III will end by December and operations will begin in the same month.

DMRC, in an email to HT, has said that without any approval in sight, it will “not be in a position to start the implementation of Phase IV”.

If this happens, then it will be for the first time since 1998 that DMRC will not be doing construction work in at least some parts of the city.

Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on two occasions of inauguration and flagging off of sections of Delhi Metro, had assured that the phase IV proposal would be cleared “at the earliest”.

Union Urban and Housing Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, on Monday (15 October) criticised the Delhi government for “holding up developmental projects in Delhi”.

“Whenever I meet the CM, I remind him to expedite the Phase IV proposal, but he keeps giving some excuse or the other. There is a pattern with this government. They are not allowing development projects to happen,” Puri said.