CHANDIGARH: The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has proposed extending the Sarai Kale Khan-Gurugram-Bawal Namo Bharat Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor to Behror in Rajasthan. The proposal has been cleared by the Public Investment Board (PIB) and sent to the Ministry of Finance for financial approval.
The proposed extension will add around 11 km in Haryana and 25 km in Rajasthan, with four new stations between Bawal and Behror. The stretch is expected to be covered in about 24 minutes. The extension is estimated to increase the project cost by around Rs 8,000 crore, taking the total proposed cost of the corridor to nearly Rs 43,000 crore.
According to an office memorandum issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MRTS-I Division) on July 9, the ministry forwarded the PIB note after incorporating comments from the Department of Expenditure and other stakeholder ministries. The proposal is based on a supplementary Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) on May 9, sources said.
Earlier this year, the Union housing ministry approved the Delhi-Bawal RRTS project after the corridor had previously been restricted to Dharuhera. Last year, the Haryana government approved the Delhi-Bawal proposal and forwarded it to the Centre.
Union Minister of State and Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh said the latest development was the result of sustained efforts to restore the corridor to its originally planned alignment.
He said the proposal was discussed at a recent meeting of the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), where it was decided to extend the corridor to Behror in view of the growing economic activity in the region.
"The government has factored in the upcoming logistics hub at Nangal Chaudhary, the planned expansion of IMT Bawal and the growth of the Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region while approving the extension," Singh said.
He added that the extension would benefit thousands of workers employed in the Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror industrial belt and significantly improve regional connectivity.
According to Singh, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has written to the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance seeking approval for the extension beyond Bawal. He said the file was forwarded for financial clearance this month after the proposal received PIB approval.
The Gurugram-Alwar corridor was originally conceived as the Delhi-Gurugram-SNB (Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror)-Alwar corridor when the NCRTC identified three priority Namo Bharat corridors in 2019. The other two were Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut and Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat.
While the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor is now fully operational, the DPR for the Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat corridor was approved by the Haryana government in 2020 and is awaiting final approval from the Union government. The NCRTC has already completed drone and soil surveys for a proposed extension to Karnal.
The Gurugram-Alwar corridor, however, underwent multiple revisions over the years. The alignment, originally planned up to Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror, was first curtailed to Dharuhera and later to Bawal.
According to NCRPB projections, the Gurugram-Alwar corridor is expected to record the highest ridership among the three priority RRTS corridors by 2041, with an estimated 15.1 lakh commuters daily, compared with 11.4 lakh on the Meerut corridor and 9.83 lakh on the Panipat corridor.
Singh said social organisations, industrial associations and residents of both Haryana and Rajasthan had consistently demanded restoration of the corridor to its original Behror terminus.
"The construction of the RRTS project between Delhi and Behror will benefit both people and industries in Rajasthan and Haryana. This project will greatly boost the economy of South Haryana and neighbouring Rajasthan," he said.
