The Urban Development Minister informed the members that Kochi Metro had been approved in principle as also the Chennai Metro. The Delhi Metro extension phase II to Noida and Gurgaon had also been approved in principle. He informed the members that viability gap funding for Hyderabad Metro has also been approved in principle. Metro projects are also being taken up in Mumbai and Kolkata besides Bangalore. As part of the Centre’s efforts for public transport, the Ministry was providing funds for Metro projects and also viability gap funding through the Finance Ministry for specific transport projects.

The Minister informed the members that under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) projects for 9 cities had been sanctioned for a total length of 359 Kilometers at a cost of Rs. 3352 crores. The Central Financial Assistance is Rs. 1602 crores.

The Minister’s initial remarks were followed by detailed presentation on the National Urban Transport Policy and the action taken by the Centre on the key elements of the policy. Members cutting across party lines expressed concern on the interminable traffic jams and high rate of deaths on highways. The discussion on the National Urban Transport Policy is to continue in the next meeting of the Consultative Committee.

Today’s meeting of the Consultative Committee was attended by the Union Minister for Urban Development Minister, Shri Jaipal Reddy and Minister of State, Shri Ajay Maken. The following members attended the meeting: Smt. Krishna Tirath, INC; Shri Sajjan Kumar, INC; Shri Swadesh Chakraborty, CPI(M); Shri Anirudh Prasad (Sadhu Yadav)RJD; Shri V.Radhakrishnan, CPI (M); Shri Madan Lal Sharma, INC; Shri Prasanta Chatterjee, CPI(M) and Shri Ram Narain Sahu, SP.