Why in news:

• The government of Haryana, along with the UT Administration of Chandigarh and state government of Punjab has given an “in-principle” approval to the “metro project” for the Tricity of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula.

Key Points:

• This was decided at a meeting held at UT Secretariat in Sector 9, Chandigarh, after the report on comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) prepared by RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited) was tabled before Haryana and Punjab.
• Notably, the decision was taken after a hiatus of 14 years of dilly-dallying over having a metro for Chandigarh. Current Chandigarh MP has been opposing the metro because of which the project couldn’t take off.
• As per the proposed new plan now (on recommendations of RITES), which would be sent to the Centre for final approval, the entire cost of metro would tentatively work out to be around Rs 10,570 crore, out of which Rs 1,795 crore will be spent in the first phase and Rs 6,898 crore in the second phase and Rs 1,878 crore in the third phase. The RITES report of CMP that was tabled suggested that the first phase of the metro system would consist of three corridors in Chandigarh.
• Of the total 48 kilometres of stretch, 38 km will be completed in the first phase and 10 km in the second phase.
• Of the 38 kilometres to be covered in the first phase, 14.5 kilometres will be in Chandigarh, eight kilometres in Panchkula and 25.5 kilometres in Mohali. Chandigarh will see the entire 14.5 kilometres completed in the first phase, Panchkula will see 3.5 km stretch completed in the first phase and 4.5 km in the second phase while Mohali will see 20 km completed in the first phase and 5.5 km in the second phase.
• On its part, the Haryana government has pointed out that Panchkula’s Pinjore-Kalka should have metro rail connectivity from Chandigarh and Zirakpur respectively under the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP). It has therefore proposed that these routes should be included in the first phase of the metro project.
• Besides, the state government has also suggested that important places like PGIMER, Punjab and Haryana High Court, secretariat, Vidhan Sabha should also be added in the first phase of the metro. It has demanded that Pinjore and Kalka should be connected with Chandigarh under the metro plan as it the gateway of Himachal Pradesh and movement of a large number of people takes place towards Panchkula and Chandigarh on a daily basis. This will further strengthen the Panchkula-Chandigarh connectivity, ensuring smooth flow of traffic.
• The mass rapid transport system (MRTS) will also comprise the proposed bus terminals, bus depots, geometrical improvements at busy intersections. MRTS, as suggested by the RITES agency, means a robust mass rapid transport system, ie metro, to encourage more people to switch from private vehicles to public transport.
• Further, it was also agreed to set up Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), a unified platform for handling overall mobility issues of Tricity, UMTA will comprise stakeholders such as Government of India, Chandigarh Administration, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to ensure coordination among various institutions and implementation of this mobility plan to improve the traffic situation in the Tricity.