delhi

Updated: May 29, 2018 10:05 IST

From 6am on Tuesday, commuters from Noida, south and west Delhi will be able to ditch gruelling traffic snarls and use the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line.

Union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off the 24.8km Kalkaji Mandir-Janakpuri West section of the Magenta Line on Monday, completing the entire 37.4km stretch of the line.

A 12.6-km stretch of the Magenta Line, between Botanical Garden and Kalkaji Mandir, has been operational since December last year.

The first train of the line was flagged off at the Nehru Enclave Metro station, from where Puri and Kejriwal travelled in the Metro to Hauz Khas station along with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) managing director Mangu Singh and other officials.

“I would like to congratulate the DMRC engineers for achieving this feat and also the people of Delhi on the opening of this line. The coming of this Metro line will reduce traffic jams and will also help bring down pollution levels,” said Kejriwal during the inauguration.

With the opening of this line, the Metro network in the city will expand to 277km, officials said. Puri said that by December this year, the network is likely to cross the 380km mark.

This line will also make reaching the Terminal-1 of the Delhi Airport from Noida easier. Commuters will also be able to cover the distance between Noida and Gurugram, which at present takes one-and-a-half hours, in merely 50 minutes.

The 16 stations that will be opened for public on Tuesday include, Janakpuri West, Dabri Mor, Dashrathpuri, Palam, Sadar Bazar Cantonment, Terminal-1 (Indira Gandhi International Airport), Shankar Vihar, Vasant Vihar, Munirka, RK Puram, Hauz Khas, IIT, Panchsheel Park, Chirag Delhi, Greater Kailash, and Nehru Enclave. This will join with Kalkaji Mandir, Okhla NSIC, Sukhdev Vihar, Jamia Milia Islamia, Okhla Vihar, Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh, Kalindi Kunj, Okhla Bird Sanctuary and Botanical Garden.

Protest by contractors and suppliers

Meanwhile, over 100 contractors and suppliers claimed they had worked for the Metro on the line staged a protest outside the Nehru Enclave Metro station on Monday alleging non-payment of dues. The protestors said that the DMRC collectively owes them over Rs 80 crore for their work.

DMRC refused comment on the allegations.