New Delhi, February 2
The foundation stone for the construction of the Metro corridor between Mundka and Bahadurgarh Sector 9 was laid today by Union Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The construction of the corridor is expected to start in July. The corridor is targeted to be commissioned by March 2016.

The 11.181-km-long corridor between Mundka and Bahadurgarh will be entirely elevated with seven stations - four in Delhi and three in Haryana. It will be an extension of the presently operational Inderlok-Mundka corridor, which is Line 5 and will run on the standard gauge. The work will be completed by March 2016 and the approximate cost involved will be Rs 1,991 crore which includes Rs 1,079 crore for Delhi and Rs 912 crore for Haryana.

An agreement regarding the same was also signed between the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Haryana Urban Development Authority. Principal Secretary of the Town and Country Planning, Haryana, S.S. Dhillon and Director (Works) of the DMRC, Jitendra Tyagi signed the agreement on behalf of the two organizations.

The corridor will run along the national highway-10 (Rohtak Road) on an elevated viaduct with seven Metro stations, including Mundka Industrial Area, Ghevra, Tikri Kalan, Tikri border in Delhi and Modern Industrial Estate, bus stand and city park in Haryana.

"As per the detailed project report, the expected daily ridership by 2016 will be 1,42,527. By 2021, the number will increase to 1,97,160. The existing Metro depot at Mundka will cater to the requirements of this corridor. Another Metro depot will also come up near the Modern Industrial Estate Metro station in Haryana," said a spokesperson of the DMRC.

The travel time from Bahadurgarh City Park to Mundka will be 20 minutes. The time from Bahadurgarh City Park to Inderlok will be 45 minutes while a journey from Bahadurgarh City Park to Kirti Nagar will take 50 minutes.

The areas which will be benefited from this corridor are Mundka, Ghevra, Tikri Kalan in Delhi and parts of Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district of Haryana. The trains on this corridor will have six coaches, said the spokesperson.

New Delhi, February 2
The Delhi Metro's under-construction Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor has left residents of several East Delhi colonies angry as the work for the elevated stretch has resulted in traffic congestion, narrowing of service lanes and inconvenience to pedestrians along a stretch of nearly one km in the area.

According to the people residing in Karkardooma, Saini Enclave, Kiran Vihar and Rishab Vihar- located adjacent to the stretch, it is close to six months that the construction of the 59-km stretch under the phase has been on resulting in choking of the arterial roads.

Virender Arora, a resident of Saini Enclave, said, "The entire road from Saini Enclave to Karkardooma Metro station has collapsed. The construction is going on in the middle of the road and two lanes have been closed and the third one is opened for a two-way traffic."

"Our area has already been well connected with Metro. With this new phase, there will be more commercialisation, parking problems and encroachments. We have been living in chaos for over five months now. The marshals deployed by the DMRC to regulate the traffic are hardly seen," he added.

The area now has two Metro rails with Vaishali-Dwarka on one side and Dilshad Garden-Rithala on the other side with the construction on the third corridor project to be completed by 2016.

"We have just one properly operational entry gate to our colony with another gate being blocked and the service lane left for entry has been made so small that no space is left for big cars. During meetings with RWAs, we were earlier promised an alternative by the DMRC but now we are left to struggle," said Kiran Vihar RWA secretary Manmohan Mehra.

"The construction company (contractor) engaged by the DMRC has been violating construction safety rules, a service lane provided for the residents of Saini Enclave has caved in endangering the houses located in the vicinity. The lane is full of potholes filled with water," said Pawan Gupta of Saini Enclave.

In response, DMRC officials maintained that they are facing problems in this 300-m stretch of road due to space constraints, but the construction work is being done according to the rules laid down in the contract specifications and safety manual.

The work started only with the consent of the three RWAs, they said.

New Delhi, February 2
A day after reeling from dense fog, Delhi got some relief with the temperature rising above normal. There is also possibility of light rain tomorrow.

The mercury today rose to a maximum of 24.2 degree Celsius, which is three deg C above normal for this time of the season and also from yesterday's 21.9 deg C while the minimum was recorded at 9.4 deg C, a notch above normal and two from yesterday's 7.6 deg C, said a MeT department official.

Though there was shallow fog and some cloud cover in the morning, it dissipated to a large extent as the day progressed. Life in the national Capital yesterday was thrown out of gear due to the dense fog.

Weatherman has predicted a foggy morning and a cloudy day tomorrow with possibility of rain or thundershowers in the evening or at night.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to remain 23 degree Celsius and 10 deg C respectively.

New Delhi, February 2
A BSP councillor today created a ruckus at a function chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. she stormed the dais and disrupted her speech for not being "invited" even though she was an elected representative of the area.

Councillor Priyanka Gautam disrupted Dikshit's speech at the function in the Kondli area, east Delhi, and shouted slogans against the Chief Minister. She also criticised the organisers for not inviting her at the function.

The Chief Minister, who was speaking after inaugurating a community centre here, tried to pacify the agitated councillor and even expressed regret on behalf of the organizers, but Gautam did not relent.

Later, a number of supporters of the councillor showed black flags to Dikshit which led to clashes between the BSP and the Congress workers. "The protest was politically motivated," the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister's son and East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit and MLA Amrish Gautam were also present on the occasion.

Asked about Arvind Kejriwal's allegations of wrongdoings by her government to benefit private power distribution companies, Chief Minister said the government has already sent its reply to the activist. "We have sent the reply to Kejriwal. So there is no need to comment further," she said.

Addressing the function, she said that her government was fully conscious of the developmental needs of the Trans-Yamuna area and was committed to fulfiling them in the right earnest.

She said the Trans-Yamuna Development Board will undertake construction of about 50-60 public toilets in the east Delhi region and this, she expected, will go a long way in serving the sanitation needs of the area.

The Chief Minister said that there was need to construct more community centres so that the residents of the area do not face any difficulties for social gatherings.

New Delhi, February 2
The Delhi Government has taken up the strengthening of those 673 roads which were transferred to it by the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi at an estimated cost of Rs 1,800 crore.

While inaugurating the work of a road at Jalebi Chowk, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that the project would include improvement of footpath, providing signage, upgrading streetlights on the road from Nangloi railway crossing to Sultanpuri bus terminal via Jalebi Chowk. The entire project would cost Rs 12.33 crore.

Dikshit said that the government is taking steps to improve and expand public transport system. "Delhi is one of the most populous cities of the world with major city roads choking due to high intensity of traffic. There is a constant need to develop road network and upgrade the existing roads in order to cater to the ever-increasing traffic," said Dikshit.

She said that the Delhi Metro has been catering to two million passengers daily. With the coming up of Monorail, the scenario is expected to change as it would supplement the existing Metro which is being expanded by another 140 km under Phase-III.

"The traffic situation in Delhi has eased substantially with the coming up of 75 flyovers. The situation will improve further with the commissioning of Signature Bridge over the Yamuna in the next few months.”

“Its commissioning would take Delhi into an era of smooth driving, saving a large quantity of fuel," the Chief Minister said.

New Delhi, February 2
While rebutting the counter issued by the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in response to the allegations of conniving with the power distribution companies and not lowering the power tariff in the Capital, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal today began a fresh round of the disobedience campaign from West Delhi's Najafgarh area to protest against the inflated power and water bills.

"In Delhi, water prices have skyrocketed 18 times in the past few years. Eight years ago, the tariff used to be Rs 73 for 45 kilolitres, but now it has increased to Rs 1,355 per month," said Kejriwal.

Resuming his 'Bijli-paani satyagraha' which will cover 51 assemblies where he will urge residents not to pay the hiked electricity, water and gas charges, he said, he will come to restore the power connection if it is snapped.

Accompanied by Sanjay Singh, Kejriwal added, "The government is acting as a shield of Anil Ambani's power company and this nexus has resulted in increasing prices of electricity and power. All documents that Sheila Dikshit is presenting in defence are false. It is time people opposed the corrupt government and power discoms."

Scores of people gathered with complaints regarding the increased prices of electricity and water in the area. In the coming days, Kejriwal said they would go to colonies and try to sensitise people about the wrongdoings of the Delhi government in order to favour the private companies.