Nagpur: The dream of having a Metro Rail in the second capital of Maharashtra is gradually taking shape.
The Union Urban Development Ministry has assigned the job of preparing a detailed project report (DPR) to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has already executed a project in the national capital successfully.
The Maharashtra Government has already appointed the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), a civic development authority here, as Nodal agency for developing the Metro Rail project for Nagpur, sources said adding the total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 8,000 crore.
The DMRC will require nearly six months to prepare the report and are likely to cut the period. The total length of the route will be 37 kms from one end in north to other in south. Nagpurians are looking for a dependable, affordable and most importantly timing saving mass rapid transport system.
Meanwhile, a demand has cropped up here for shifting out the Central Prisonl in 125 acres bang in the heart of the city on busy National Highway (Nagpur-Wardha).The land thus freed can be used for building modern urban infrastructure like an underground plaza station for the proposed Metro rail network, an international convention centre, a modern market or a large auditorium.
City MP Vilas Muttemwar has written to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in this regard and urged him to convene a meeting especially to discuss the developmental projects in the city. Chavan has agreed to do so after the Budget Session of the State Assembly is over.
"The Central Jail is over a century old and squats over prime land within the city. Looking at the growing needs of the fast expanding city, it is high time the State Government at least commissioned an expert consultant to prepare a techno-feasibility report on shifting the jail and using its land for meeting the city`s needs for a large market, a metro junction etc," Muttemwar, who is also General Secretary, AICC wrote to Chavan.
PTI
