Delhi Metro Rail Project

Delhi, national capital of India is going a rapid transformation through construction of city's mass rapid transit system (MRTS) - Delhi Metro Rail Project of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). It is aimed at providing commuting convenience to residents of Delhi, which now has a population of about 15 million. The population of Delhi was only 5.7 million in 1981 and its dramatic rise is caused by lack of development and employment potential in its surrounding areas.

Phase I of 65 km of MRTS is completed long back at a cost of INR 105,720 million but there is no relief to commuters since the project has attracted more crowd from the surrounding areas. Delhi has a good road transport system and its road cover almost 23 percent area of the city. Apart from this, a large number of subways and flyovers have been constructed making the city 'a city of flyovers'. Apart from such a large roads network, the urban area has 120 km tracks of Indian Railways for carrying commuting people. Thus there was no lack of commuting facilities in Delhi provided population of surrounding areas is not pulled to Delhi for employment and business.

Because of huge crowd being pulled to Delhi, even now the road jams are frequent. The city has the largest number of motor vehicles on its roads which number more than Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai put together.

Thus, the MRTS is not going to solve any problems of Delhi but going to make it the most unsafe city in the world. Most of the MRTS tracks run overhead at heights of about 10 meters which will pose numerous problems of operation and maintenance as the system gets older day by day. Even the stations have been constructed on pillars for non-availability of ground space at many places. Already there had been many accidents during its construction which has simply been ascribed to poor quality of materials used by some subcontractors of DMRC, as if nobody else, from contractors and DMRC officials, is accountable for the lapses.

A better alternative would have been to develop a corridor of about 200 km all around Delhi with the money being spent on the project. This would have facilitated the people for getting employment and business potentials at their homes and there would have been no need of them for going to Delhi. In that case, Delhi's population rise would have been limited making the city a livable place for its residents.