Chandigarh, Oct 25: Nearly a year after a committee was set up to assess the feasibility of a Metro network for Chandigarh, the project remains stalled — and the city’s new chief secretary, H Rajesh Prasad, wants that to change.
Prasad on Friday directed officials to speed up the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed Metro system, saying only once the report is ready can the administration make an informed decision about its practicality. “Without the DPR, it’s difficult to say if the Metro will be financially or technically sustainable,” Prasad told mediapersons. “We need to examine costs, ridership, and long-term benefits carefully.”
The chief secretary also said that traffic congestion and parking shortages continue to be among Chandigarh’s most pressing challenges. He asked the municipal corporation to prepare a comprehensive parking plan to address the city’s growing urban pressure.
The Metro proposal has been stuck in procedural limbo since October last year, when UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria set up an eight-member committee to evaluate its economic viability. The panel, which includes top officials from Punjab, Haryana, and the UT administration, has met thrice so far. Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) has submitted its reports, but they remain pending with no official action.
In November 2023, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar had questioned the ridership projections, suggesting that alternatives like pod taxis might be more suitable for the city’s needs. Yet, in June this year, RITES reaffirmed that the Metro was economically viable in its revised report. Even so, the agency was asked to revisit its ridership estimate of 11.3 lakh passengers annually during a meeting chaired by Haryana additional chief secretary (transport) Ashok Khemka.
Earlier this year, the housing and urban affairs ministry told Parliament that no DPR for the Tricity Metro had been submitted. The project, with estimated costs ranging from ₹25,000 crore to ₹30,000 crore depending on the design, hinges on whether the Centre agrees to bear the financial burden.
Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari recently renewed his appeal to Khattar to push the Chandigarh Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) as a centrally funded project. “The city urgently needs a modern public transport system,” Tewari said, urging swift clearance from the Centre.
