Jaipur: After six months of its closure due to the COVID lockdown, Jaipur metro resumed operations on Wednesday when chief minister Ashok Gehlot also inaugurated a small underground stretch of the existing line to a new destination in the walled city area. Chief Minister Gehlot digitally inaugurated the extended underground stretch of the existing Mansarovar- Chandpole metro line, taking the services to Chandpole in Jaipur’s old city areas.
The Jaipur Metro laid down its underground 2.12-km track and built the sole underground station at Chandpole under its phase 1-B plans. The new line would now cater to the people also in the old city area enabling them to reach Mansarovar 12 km away in around 26 minutes, a release said. The metro project saw a lot of challenges like saving of archaeological structures and environment and not hurting religious sentiments of people, the release said. People of the city supported us and this project is a result of support, dedication and zeal to develop Jaipur as a smart city, Gehlot, according to the release, said while inaugurating the service digitally.
The chief minister also congratulated the team of engineers and officers of Jaipur Metro and talked to an operator Shaifali too through video conference. The Jaipur metro was conceptualised a decade ago during the previous tenure of the Ashok Gehlot government. The route from Mansarovar to Badi Chaupar was decided as phase 1 which was divided in phase 1-A from Mansarovar to Chandpole on elevated tracks and underground between Chandpole and Badi Chaupar under Phase 1-B. The foundation stone for phase 1-A (Mansarover to Chandpole) was laid in February 2011 and trial runs were started in 2013 and the train started commercial services in 2015. For phase 1-B (Chandpole to Badi Chaupar), the foundation stone was laid in September 2013 and the project was scheduled to be completed in two and a half years but this phase took longer in the completion.
In the phase 1-B, the major key challenges were about keeping heritage structures falling in its vicinity unharmed and developing the project in the most populated area of the city, an official said. The Jaipur Metro services were closed after the lockdown was announced in March this year because of coronavirus spread. Now the metro will function normally, the official of Jaipur metro rail corporation said.
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