MLAs plan European jaunt to study rapid transit system

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 15

Amid delay in work on the much-awaited Metro rail project for Dehradun-Haridwar- Rishikesh and Roorkee cities, a group of MLAs from Uttarakhand will be on a tour of European countries beginning August 7 to study the various mass rapid transit systems in use. The tour itinerary has been planned by the Department of Urban Development. The delegation will be led by Minister for Urban Development Madan Kaushik and other MLAs. The department would also foot the bill for the trip.

In order to ensure that the tour goes well with the opposition, Congress MLAs Manoj Rawat and Karan Mahra have also been included in the delegation that would also comprise of BJP MLAs Puran Singh Fartyal, Chandan Ram Das, Surendra Singh Jena and others. These leaders will visit the UK, Switzerland, Germany and France for a week.

The MLAs are likely to study the rapid transit system of Europe and light rail systems (LRS), including the underground tube of the UK. “I have also been asked to accompany the delegation. But I will only go, if the tour proves productive,” said Manoj Rawat, Congress MLA from Kedarnath.

Significantly, the Metro project that received a green signal during the tenure of the Congress government in 2016 is still in the planning stages. “After the Central government came up with a new policy on Metro railways, the work had to be started all over again with special emphasis on feasibility and economic viability,” said Jitendra Tyagi, MD of Uttarakhand Metro Rail, Urban Infrastructure & Buildings Construction Corporation Limited that was formed soon after the BJP government came to power in the state.

To that end, a comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) is being worked out by Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC), which is likely to present the study in August, after which the detailed project report (DPR) would be drafted in September and sent to the Centre for approval.

Though the Uttarakhand government has made an outlay of Rs 83 crore for the project, due to the poor financial health of the state the government is hoping for a full or 50 per cent financial support from the Central government.