The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) Thursday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will inaugurate the Noida-Greater Noida Metro Link on January 25.
The 29.7-km Noida-Greater Noida Metro Link was given its requisite safety clearances on December 21, paving the way for operations. The state government, and other local leaders, had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the project. However, this did not come fruition, and the chief minister is now scheduled to open the project for public use, officials said.
“The chief minister will inaugurate the Metro Link on January 25, from Depot Metro station. After the inauguration, the CM will travel from the station to Noida’s Sector 142 station. We will soon get a detailed schedule of the CM’s visit,” PD Upadhyaya, executive director, NMRC, said.
The Greater Noida authority chief executive officer Narendra Bhooshan said a manufacturing unit in Greater Noida has invited the chief minister to its campus, which Adityanath may also visit.
Despite getting all clearances necessary, the inauguration of the longest Metro corridor outside Delhi was on hold because neither Modi nor Adityanath was able to commit to a date the project, officials said.
The Metro link has 21 stations including sectors 52, 51, 50, 78, 81, Dadri Road, sectors 83, 137, 142, 143, 144, 147, 153, 149, Knowledge Park 2, Knowledge Park 1, Pari Chowk, Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Delta 1 and Depot. Around 20km of the line is located in Noida and the rest in Greater Noida.
The NMRC, formed on November 14, 2014, owns the ₹5,503 crore project (including the cost of the land). The NMRC had, in 2015, roped in the DMRC, which started work on the project on May 25, 2015.
Commuters said they were anxious for the link to be opened up for operations.
“We have been waiting for a long time for the opening of the link for operations. We thought the Metro line will start operations by December-end, after it got safety clearances,” Neeraj Acharya, a resident of Sector 121, said.
“The project will benefit me immensely. Currently, I have to either hire a cab or take my car to reach my college, in Knowledge Park-IV, from Noida’s Sector 45, because the bus service is barely usable,” Shivam Singh, a resident of Sector 51, said.
First Published: Jan 18, 2019 09:13 IST