Title - Metro balm on bus blow scar

A state that failed to roll out a single green bus on road utilising the Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) funds sanctioned Rs 9 crore on Wednesday for conducting the techno-economic feasibility study for metro/mono rail in the city.Making the announcement in the Assembly, urban development and housing minister Prem Kumar said: “The department has decided to allocate the funds for the survey to address the traffic woes of the residents.”The sanction of funds for the metro/mono rail survey is a welcome move of the state government. But it miserably failed to cash in on the Centre’s SUTP funds, meant for sustainable urban transport system. As a result, it would miss out on the second instalment of the project.Junior urban development minister Deepa Dasmunshi on Wednesday said in the Lok Sabha: “In Bihar, green buses have not been bought with the first instalment of the SUTP. As a result, we cannot sanction the second instalment. The state has not submitted utilisation certificate for Patna district.” She added that the Centre had not received any project proposal from the state either.Urban development and housing department secretary S. Siddharth said: “A fresh proposal for procuring low-floor buses for Patna in public-private partnership mode is being prepared. The acquisition would commence after a nod from the state cabinet.”

The day an opportunity to ease commuters’ hassle was missed, the state government gave a push to another mass transit system — metro/mono rail. Kumar, the state urban development and housing minister, said the techno-economic feasibility survey — for which funds were allocated on Wednesday — would be completed by the end of the next financial year (2013-14). Once the survey is over, the department would float tenders for the construction work.

Siddharth told The Telegraph: “We would be floating the tender for the selection of the consultant for conducting the techno-economic feasibility study within a month. The contract would be awarded in the next two months. The selected firm would be given not less than eight months for conducting the feasibility study. If things go in order, we expect the DPR (detailed project report) by April next year. Based on that, we would float the tender for the construction work by June 2014.”

According to sources, the consultant would have to conduct soil tests, traffic and engineering surveys and alignment review among others under the feasibility study.

Expressing happiness over the funds allocation for the metro/mono rail survey, Anand Puri resident Nishant Sinha said: “If the state government can make mono or metro rail a reality in the city, it would be like a dream coming true. Few cities have such rail services. Let’s see what happens in the future.”

Buddha Colony’s Nilesh Dubey said: “So far, I have been just hearing about this project but I never thought the government was serious about it. If the mono or metro rail starts plying in the city, traffic congestion would become history. It will save time as well as money.”