NEW DELHI: Centre is likely to build a new 6-7 km Metro line from Indraprastha station to North Block, connecting Bharat Mandapam, C Hexagon at India Gate, Kartavya Path, Central Secretariat, and the proposed Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum at the North and South Blocks.
The underground corridor will provide connectivity to all the 10 proposed govt buildings along the Kartavya Path and India Gate, Delhi’s most popular tourist spots.
Sources said the proposed stretch will be an extension of the 12.3 km Inderlok-Indraprastha Metro corridor (Green Line), which was approved by the Union cabinet in March. The corridor will pass through the area around India Gate and along the Kartavya Path. They added that the proposal is in its preliminary stage and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is likely to prepare the detailed project report soon. The alignment of the corridor has not yet been finalised.
“All security aspects will be taken into account while preparing the DPR and no section of it would be built below the India Gate or Kartavya Path. There will be special focus on planning station on Kartavya Path so that employees don’t have to walk more to reach offices. The intention behind the project is to make the huge open public space to more accessible to people. At present, we have two Metro stations at Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan for people coming to offices and visitors,” said an official.
Sources said the key challenges for laying the underground Metro track would be shifting of utilities, which was one of the prime causes of delay in the revamp of Kartavya Path, and how deep the line would be considering the water table in the area.
TOI has learnt that though earlier there was a proposal to have an automated people mover system (APMS) to link all the Common Central Secretariat (CCS) buildings at basements, it was realised that the transportation system would be used only by the employees. “A large share of people coming to this area won’t have got the benefit of the APMS. So, there was a view that a Metro line can serve a better purpose and will also decongest the area by shifting more people to the mass transit system,” a source said.
Officials said there has been a manifold increase in footfall since the Kartavya Path was inaugurated after redevelopment. At present, the average daily footfall is 60,000-70,000 and on weekends this touches 1.3-1.4 lakh. “On festivals and national holidays, the footfall can be around two lakh. So, any better transportation system will be a good move,” said one of them.
He added that the number of visitors will be more when the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum will be operational.
