There will be fourteen monuments which will be falling in the corridors identified for the Metro route in Agra which will exclude the Taj Mahal. Suprintending Archaeologist Agra Circle Dr Bhuvan Vikram while talking to “The Pioneer” on Tuesday said that that they told the Metro officials to follow the archaeological norms for these monuments.
It may be noted that the State Government has initiated efforts for the making of the Metro in the four cities of Agra, Meerut, Kanpur and Varanasi. The lucknow Metro Rail Corporation is the coordinating agency for these cities.
“There are fourteen monuments which fall in the Metro route in Agra which excludes the Taj Mahal. In our meetings we have informed the Metro officials that they should follow the archaeological norms when they construct the Metro in the city,” he said. On being asked if the construction of the Metro would impact these monuments the Suprintending Archaeologist said that an impact assessment study was being carried out. “An impact assessment study is being carried out by the Metro through which we will come to know if the monuments will be impacted by the construction of the Metro. We will further carry out the talks with the ASI officials when things are further finalized” he said.
Higher authorities at the lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (lMRC) while talking to “The Pioneer” said that the alignments of the corridors which had been identified had yet to be frozen. “The alignments have not been frozen and we are in the process of talking to the ASI officials. All the Archaeological norms will be followed in this regard and the alignments will be frozen only after the discussions” he said.
In the Detailed Project Report which is being prepared for Agra the corridors were the engineering surveys are being carried out are as follows. Four elevated and eight underground stations in a 11 Km stretch form the first corridor in Agra city from ISBT via Ambedkar University, Hotel Trident road, including Raja ki Mandi railway station, S N Medical College, Heeng ki Mandi, Agra Fort. There would be 13 elevated and one underground station in 16 Km long second corridor from Agra Cant. railway station to Trans-Yamuna Colony including Sanjay Palace, Diwani Chauk, Vijay Nagar, Kamla Nagar, Waterworks junction.
Corridor-2 in Agra is proposed to start from Rajban Bazaar to Gokalpur village via Begumul, Bachcha Park, Hapur Adda, Garh Bus Stand and Medical College along Garh Road with a total length of 10 Km and entirely elevated with 11 stations.
As far as the other cities are concerned, two corridors of 24 Km and 9 Km would be developed in Kanpur city. In the first corridor from IIT Kanpur to Naubasta via GT Road, Mall Road and Hamirpur via Gurudev Chauraha, Rawatpur railway station, Naveen market, Phoolbagh, Kanpur Central railway station, Jhakarkati bus terminal and Kidwai Nagar, There would be 14 elevated and eight underground stations on this route. Similarly, second corridor will be from Agriculture University to Barra-8 via Vijay Nagar Barra road, Rawatpur railway station, Kakadev, Govind Nagar, Barra-7 and would include five elevated stations and four underground stations.
In Varanasi city, 13 elevated and four underground stations have been proposed on 19 Km long Corridor-1 from BHU to BHEl via Godowlia, Benia Park, Varanasi Junction, Nadesar, Bhojubeer and Shivpur. Similarly, around 9 Km long Corridor-2 has been proposed to have four elevated and five underground stations from Benia Park to Sarnath via Kotwali, Machodari Park, Kashi Bus Depot, Jalalipur, Ashapur, Hanuman Nagar, and Mawaiya.
Corridor-1 of Meerut city metro rail route was proposed to be of 20 Km from Partapur to Pallavpuram along Delhi-Roorkee Road via Shatabdi Nagar, HRS Chauk, Begumpul, Gandhi Bagh, Sofipur and Pallavpuram. It is proposed to build nine elevated and eight underground stations on this corridor.