The opening of the 1.2-km corridor of the grey line took place after a delay of over a month. (File)
The Najafgarh-Dhansa Bus Stand extension of Grey Line of the Delhi Metro was on Saturday inaugurated, taking the mass rapid transit system further into the interior areas of Najafgarh.
Passenger services on this section commenced at 5 pm, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said.
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal jointly inaugurated the section via video-conference link, the DMRC said.
The opening of the 1.2-km corridor took place after a delay of over one month, which had occurred due to an issue related to an approach road to the station. Earlier scheduled to be inaugurated on August 6, it was postponed two days before the slated date.
This extension of the over 4.2-km Grey Line (Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor) will immensely benefit the residents of the interior areas around Najafgarh, which is steeped in history.
The Dwarka-Najafgarh corridor was opened in October 2019, which had connected the urban village area of Najafgarh to the rapid transit network for the first time.
The old Grey Line had three stations -- Dwarka (interchange with Blue Line), Nangli and Najafgarh.
Mr Puri in his address during the event, said connections, such as the one to Dhansa will play a vital role, in reaching rural areas also. The gap between the rural and urban parts of Delhi is now being bridged with such connections which are going deep into the outer and suburban areas of the national capital.
With its opening, the Delhi Metro's span has now increased to nearly 392 km with 286 stations (including the Noida-Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro, Gurgaon).
Mr Kejriwal said this new corridor will benefit people from nearly 50 villages in the area, as well as ease the journey to Delhi for commuters coming from Jhajjar, Haryana side, who travel for work. It will also ease street traffic burden in the area, he said.
Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, West Delhi Member of Parliament Parvesh Sahib Singh, and South Delhi Mayor Mukesh Suryan, were also joined on the occasion, while Ambassador of Japan in India Satoshi Suzuki, attended it via video link from the Embassy.
The Dhansa Bus Stand station has been adorned with attractive artworks and photographs, which display the rich heritage, culture, flora and fauna of this suburban locality of the national capital.
In a first for the DMRC network, the Delhi Metro has built an underground integrated parking facility at Dhansa Bus Stand station that will allow commuters to park their vehicles and move to the concourse area directly.
Secretary, Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shankar Mishra said that metros can explore this novel concept of underground parking facility. The Dhansa parking facility can accommodate nearly 300 vehicles, including 110 cars and 185 two-wheelers, he said.
The station has been designed as a four-level underground structure where there will be the platform at the bottom (at an approximate depth of 18 metres), followed by the concourse and then an entire floor for parking above it with the roof level at the top (ground level), the DMRC said.
It is the first ever underground metro station of the Delhi Metro network to have an entire underground floor dedicated for parking of vehicles. The facility will be integrated with the main station area where vehicle users will be able to park their cars and two-wheelers, and then proceed to the concourse of the station directly using lifts and escalators, it said.
The station also has many green features, like a rain water harvesting system, and adequate sump and pumping facility to improve existing storm water drainage system of the nearby area, officials said.
Also, the station building has been given the ''platinum'' rating by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). This is the highest possible rating for adherence to green building norms, they said.
The parking lot is equipped with facilities such as the entry and exit ramps, lifts, staircases, escalators. There would be provision for property development activities at the ground level in the future, the DMRC said in a statement.
The facility will be of great benefit to the local residents as the adjoining areas are extremely congested, with very limited space for parking of vehicles.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in a statement said, there is a provision of energy efficient LED lights at the metro station. There is also a drinking water facility within the station premises.