Delhi Metro today connected the industrial town of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh to its network.
Ghaziabad becomes the third city after Noida and Gurgaon on the route of the advanced urban rail system.
The Vaishali (Ghaziabad)-Anand Vihar (New Delhi) metro line was commercially opened in a simple function, wherein UP Panchayati Raj minister Swami Prasad Maurya represented UP government.
Earlier, Chief Minister Mayawati was likely to flag off the Metro, however, this could not materialise due to amended schedule of the launch.
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has borne the expenditure of Rs 280 crore on the project jointly undertaken with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
Two stations have been constructed at Kaushabi and Vaishali on the 2.75 km corridor, which will decongest Anand Vihar metro station. The state government will launch feeder buses to connect metro with different areas, so that more people could be benefited by the metro link.
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An estimated 60,000 daily commuters are likely to benefit by the new rail link, serving large catchment of Ghaziabad and boosting economic development of the area.
Meanwhile, the state had also prepared an extension plan of Metro Rail in Noida. Similarly, UP had given its consent for the implementation of Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) project for high speed train from Delhi to Meerut.
Under phase II of the metro project, work is in progress to connect Dilshad Garden (Delhi) to Mohan Nagar (Ghaziabad).
Under Ghaziabad township scheme, two hi-tech city and seven integrated city schemes are being developed over 10,000 acres of land to provide residential facilities to 1.2 million people.
Under these schemes, 40,000 economically weaker sections (EWS) and low income group (LIC) housing units and 1.5 lakh other units would be constructed in Ghaziabad.