The central government has spent Rs 12,775 crore on the expansion of Metro projects in Kolkata in the last eight years, said Union civil aviation and steel minister Jyotiraditya Scindia today.
The Union minister was speaking at Dakshineswar Metro station this morning and was in the city to participate in organisational meetings as part of BJP’s Pravas campaign across the country.
Taking a dig at the previous governments, the minister said, “The dream of Metro was being seen since the year 1972, but the previous politicians started a limited line of only 12-13km in 25 years. In the last seven years the line has been expanded to 41 km in Kolkata. The 32km of the north-south corridor and 9.5 km of the East-West corridor joined together, a total of 41km of line have been readied.”
Talking about the expenditure on various city Metro projects, Mr Scindia said, “If the expenses on the Metro corridors from Sector V to Salt Lake stadium of 5.5km, from Salt Lake stadium to Phoolbagan of 11 km corridor, from Noapara to Dakshineswar of 4 km and from Phoolbagan to Sealdah of 2 km, is estimated, the total expenditure from 1972 to 1995 was Rs 6,900 crore. In the last eight years, from 2014 to 2022, Rs 12,775 crore has been spent on the extension of Metro projects. This year, about 12 km Metro corridor will be started and in the next four years, around 52 km of additional Metro corridor will be ready. So, the present corridor of 41 km will increase by 2.5 times and become about 105 km. This year, Metro corridors of 5.5 km from New Garia to Hemanta Mukherjee and from Joka to Taratala of about 6.5 km will be started.”
During his visit, the minister also boarded the Metro at Dakshineswar and travelled in a round journey to the next station talking to the commuters.