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New Delhi : Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri on October 29, 2018, stated that more than 664 km of Metro Rail projects in 15 cities are presently under various stages of implementation while more than 515 km of Metro Line are already operational in India.
Interacting with the Members of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs here, the Minister informed them on various initiatives taken by his Ministry on Urban Transport in the country in the recent past besides apprising them of Sustainable Urban Transport Projects.
Members of Parliament Bhartruhari Mahtab, D D Devegowda, Gokraju Gangaraju, Rajan Baburao Vichare, Rattan Lal Kataria, Santokh Singh Chaudhary and Dr Shrikant Eknath Shinde, attended the meeting. Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, and senior officers of the Ministry and its entities also attended the meeting.
Providing details of the Metro Rail projects presently under operation/implementation, Puri informed that several new cities are now aspiring to have Metro Rail Systems. The State Governments/Union Territories have been advised to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) in line with the provisions in the Metro Rail Policy 2017 and submit. He also said that Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) projects comprising 373 km between Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Alwar are under planning.
The Minister said that the MoHUA has released funds to various Metro Rail Projects to the tune of Rs 9,286.09 crore in 2015-16, Rs 15,298.61 crore in 2016-17, Rs 13,956.23 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 7,481.28 crore in 2018-19 (upto September 30, 2018), according to a PIB release.