Delhi Metro, which has so far been constantly lauded for finishing its work on time, may miss its 2016 deadline to finish the Phase III of the network because of its failure to acquire land at three places.
Two corridors in the third phase including line 7 (Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar) and line 8 (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden) are looking at delay in completion because of failure to acquire small stretches of land in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri and west Delhi’s Mayapuri and Punjabi Bagh areas.
A metro official said while there are still chances of work being completed by the end of 2016 if those three crucial stretches of land are given to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) at the earliest. “But any further delay in acquiring the land will delay the completion of the project,” the official added. He, however, added that there has been little progress in that direction so far.
According to sources, the file concerning the land acquisition has been lying with Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) for the last eight months. But DUSIB has failed to come up with a formula to rehabilitate residents who are living on those stretches of land.
While the work on all the stretches of Phase III is going at a good pace, there are gaps of around 60-80 meters length in the corridors in these three places which cannot be bridged unless people living on these stretches are rehabilitated and land is acquired, said sources.
Earlier, DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh had sought intervention of Delhi lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and the chief secretary to expedite the land acquisition process.
The 58.6-km long Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor with 38 stations will be the longest corridor on Delhi Metro network catering to people in north-west, west, south and east Delhi areas. The Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor will span over 32 kilometers and will have 23 stations. Both the lines are targeted for completion by December 2016.