PUNE: While Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) might have missed the deadline of completing 12-km of Metro line by December 2019 set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the year 2019 was a remarkable year for the MahaMetro as work on all four reaches of the metro rail project were in progress. 

The authorities have now set a deadline of January 2020 and are positive of starting the trial run of  the priority stretch of Pimpri-Dapodi and Vanaaz-Garware by February. MahaMetro authorities said they will be trying to complete the civil work of the stretch by December-end, when they are also expecting the arrival of rolling stocks for the trial run in Pune.

Officials said that delay in acquiring land and prolonged monsoon impacted the progress of MahaMetro. On Nigdi to Shivajinagar stretch, the metro work was in full swing with minor problems of land acquisition in Khadki. Similarly, MahaMetro also kicked off the project from Civil Court to Ramwadi with aligning issues at Aga Khan Palace.

Officials had to then divert the metro route from Kalyani Nagar, which also caused delay in the progress. An official from MahaMetro said that if people have a problem it should be solved at the earliest as any delay causes financial burden. 

“We are taking massive loans for the project and delay in the project means losses as we have to pay more interest on the loan amount and it is loss for the people,” added a MahaMetro official. 

By the end of December 2019, MahaMetro had almost finished awarding major contract tenders and were also in  process of working on plans of seamless travel for commuters. 

Similarly, the authority also started the work on the underground metro from Shivajinagar to Swargate. 

The work of constructing the depot is in progress at Agriculture College and Vanaaz depot. 

MahaMetro officials said they are proud of the progress they have achieved and soon the metro in Pune will be a reality. 

The authorities have started working on project reports of extension as demanded by the citizens. 

MahaMetro will be working on planning extension plans from Pimpri to Nigdi and also from Swargate to Katraj. 

While the authority is receiving many requests of extension, the authority has chosen to focus on delivering the in-hand projects.