No money for project, says CM Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged the Centre to bear Delhi’s share of the cost of the proposed rapid transit project between Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut, citing inadequate finances.

In a letter to Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri earlier this week, Mr Kejriwal said the estimated cost of the 82.15-km Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut regional rapid transit system (RRTS) was Rs 31,902 crore.

Out of this, the Delhi government’s share is expected to be Rs 1,138 crore for the corridor’s 13 kilometres that will fall in the city, said Mr Kejriwal, who had met Mr Puri over this issue last week.

Mr Kejriwal said his government was ready to grant in-principal approval for the implementation of the rapid transit corridor in National Cap-ital Region (NCR).

However, he said, the Delhi government did not have adequate finances to meet the cost. “Therefore, I would urge that the Delhi’s share in the project cost may be borne by the Central government.” As per the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), the proposed corridor falling in Delhi has two elevated stations at Sarai Kale Khan and New Ashok Nagar and one underground station at Anand Vihar. In 2013, the Centre had approved setting up of NCRTC for designing, implementing, financing, operating and maintaining the RRTS in NCR to provide comfortable and fast transit to NCR towns.