Alleges step-motherly treatment to his constituency by DMRC, state government
Alleges step-motherly treatment to his constituency by DMRC, state government
The turf war between Delhi Congress chief Jai Prakash Aggarwal and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit just got
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| Delhi Congress chief Jai Prakash Aggarwal |
hotter. However, this time the reasons are pertaining to development rather than politics.
Delhi Metro is the fresh bone of contention between the two leaders of the ruling party. Aggarwal is so upset with the state government that he has written to the Prime Minister's office alleging step-motherly treatment to his constituency, northeast Delhi.
"I recently came to know that a line traversing through northeast which was in the Delhi Metro Master plan for Phase-III has been dropped. It is very sad. The area has a population of over 20 lakh. The Delhi Metro is not for any particular area but for the entire Delhi," said, Aggarwal.u00a0
As per the DPR submitted by Delhi Metro to Delhi government, Delhi Metro's Phase III is now going to span 69.57 km as against the earlier proposed length of 85 km. The number of corridors has also been reduced from seven to six and the routes have been partially altered.
According to the new plan, Vasant Kunj, Ghazipur, Shiv Vihar and Yamuna Vihar will not be on the Metro map for now in Phase-III.u00a0 A portion of this Metro Link between Shiv Vihar and Yamuna Vihar falls under the area of northeast.
Without taking the name of the chief minister, Aggarwal said, "I do not know who has done it. But the area should have been connected by Metro. My parliamentary constituency does not even have a single Metro line."
"I have met the Prime Minister personally and he has assured me that interests of people of my area will be taken care of," said Aggarwal.u00a0
Delhi Congress sources said the bone of contention between the two leaders is that the east Delhi Parliament segment has three functional Delhi Metro routes all in the segment represented by Sandeep Dikshit, son of the chief minister.
"East Delhi area is represented by Sandeep Dikshit so it has got one more Metro route. Why was the route that was earlier in Phase-III Master Plan dropped?" asked a senior Congress leader and a known JP Aggarwal supporter.
However, a senior Delhi government official who wished not to be identified said: "We had carried out some surveys which indicated that there were more areas where Metro would be viable. This had been stated in the economic survey released by the government and conveyed to DMRC. Some of the modifications are in tune with that. The exact alignments given in the DPRs are being examined and more changes might be made if the need arises.
