MP Kirron Kher prefers monorail over metro for Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: In the administrator’s advisory council (AAC) meeting held under the chairmanship of UT administrator V P Singh Badnore, city MP Kirron Kher said monorail is a good idea for a city like Chandigarh. She added that Punjab and Haryana can use metro up to Chandigarh and then transfer to monorail because that will save Chandigarh from being dug up.
On the other side, former Union railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal demanded to revive metro project for the city.While talking to TOI, UT adviser Parimal Rai said during meeting, members submitted their suggestions adding that they will take a call soon.
In 2006, the Union government had rejected the Chandigarh monorail project and told the Tricity to explore the metro option.
A senior UT official said that recently a Swiss company had submitted proposal for monorail. As per the proposal, the monorail will link Chandigarh with Panchkula and Mohali. It will not require us to dig up the city, which metro would have needed. The monorail will cost about Rs 2,500 crore, as opposed to metro’s price of Rs 13,600 crore, he added.
On metro project, the official further added that the project is only on papers as of now for it is impossible to find 200 acres of land and Rs 13,600 crore of funding for the metro project.
Metro was proposed in 2006 after the Centre shelved the monorail plan. After years of planning, during the home minister’s advisory committee meeting in New Delhi in 2017, home minister Rajnath Singh declared Metro as unviable for Chandigarh. He asked the UT officials to look for an alternative. Local MP Kirron Kher also shot down the project in 2014.