: The much-publicised Lucknow Metro got a trial run on Thursday with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) projecting it as a game-changer ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP chief Mulayam Singh flagged off the train at the Transport Nagar depot here, before it set off on a trial run on an 8.5 km stretch till the Charbagh station. The inaugural ride was piloted by two women.
The 23-km north-south corridor of the Lucknow Metro will have 21 stations., including eight elevated ones. The 22.878 km long Phase-1A of the project is to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 6,928 crore. The Lucknow Metro will also get a loan assistance of 450 million Euros (Rs. 3,502 crore) from European Investment Bank (EIB) for its Phase-1A project.
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‘Fulfilled promises’
“We have fulfilled all our promises. Whatever Netaji had announced in the manifesto, we have accomplished,” the CM said on the occasion, adding that the Metro had become a “necessity” for a growing city like Lucknow.
He said the Lucknow Metro was an example of how work could be completed in “less time”.
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The project took 26 months and will be open to the public in March 2017. Metro-man E. Seedharan is the principal advisor to the Lucknow Metro.
‘Hasty’ says Mayawati
The trial run, however, elicited sharp criticism from the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati who said it was conducted in a “hasty manner” in a bid to garner “cheap publicity”, keeping in mind the upcoming polls. She said the SP government was running a campaign to inaugurate “incomplete” projects to influence voters, adding it showed that Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav was convinced his party was not returning to power. It would have been better if Mr. Yadav had waited to conduct the trail run till the slated official inauguration of the train on March 26, 2017, Ms. Mayawati said, censuring the Yadav patriarch for his “childish stubbornness”.
Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav praised his son’s government for completing the project on time. “It is Samajwadi tradition that there is no difference in our walk and talk,” he said.
Building image
CM Ahilesh Yadav pointed out that Metro rail had already come up in Ghaziabad and Noida, and apart from Lucknow, was in process of coming up in Kanpur. If voted back to power, the SP would also initiate work on a Metro in Varanasi, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav said.
The SP government recently inaugurated the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, and together the two infrastructural projects are key to propelling Mr. Akhilesh Yadav’s image of a pro-development man.
Ms. Mayawati said the SP government breached tradition by inaugurating the trial run of the Lucknow Metro before its completion.
The foundation work of the Lucknow Metro was done under her government, she said. It was initiated by her administration in 2008 and a detailed project report was sent to the Centre by her government in 2011, the former CM said.
Best project award
The Lucknow Metro was earlier this year adjudged the best Metro project for “Excellence in Innovative Designs” at the 5th Annual Metro Rail Summit in New Delhi. The exterior and interior of the train would prominently feature the rich culture of Lucknow, also known as the City of Nawabs. The Metro will have two corridors: the North-South corridor from the Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport to Munshipulia crossing, and the East-West corridor from Vasantkunj to Charbagh, which would also be the interchanging junction.