UP injects Rs 100 crore into Delhi-Meerut corridor

LUCKNOW: Lending a financial push to the country’s first Rapid Rail Transport System (RRTS) between Delhi and Meerut via Ghaziabad, the state government has sanctioned Rs 100 crore for the ambitious project that aims to reduce the travel time between Delhi and Meerut to less than an hour. This is the first financial dose of the total Rs 900 crore earmarked for the project.
The 82km Delhi-Meerut Corridor will pass through one of the most densely populated sections of the National Capital Region connecting Delhi to Uttar Pradesh. The corridor will not only be beneficial for the development of the region but will also help connect a large number of townships and centres of economic activity being planned along the section.
The project will have a 180kmph design speed, a first-of-its-kind rolling stock in India for regional transit services and will be implemented in phases between the cities. The corridor will have 24 stations and infrastructure will be used to offer local transit services in Meerut.
The fund will be kept at the discretion of the managing director, National Capital Region Transport Corporation, according to a communique sent by the UP housing and urban planning department to NCRTC. The letter signed by principal secretary (housing), Deepak Kumar, the corporation will be required to conduct the project as per the timeline set by the state government. The corporation, at the same time, would ensure high quality of construction work.
According to the guidelines set by the housing department, the corporation will be required to get legal sanctions and environmental clearance before starting the project. The executing agency will also be required to get technical sanction from the competent authority. NCRTC will be required to prepare the detailed project report and get it cleared by the Centre as well as the state government.
The amount sanctioned will not be availed in one go but will be used as per the requirement. The sanctioned fund should also not be kept in the bank, public ledger account or any deposit, the guidelines said. The corporation will be required to see that the project has not received funds from any other source or has been accommodated under any developmental scheme.
The state government has also set a deadline of spending the allocated fund by March 31, 2021, and getting a completion certificate by April 30 next year.