The development of two additional Delhi Metro corridors have been approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. With a total length of about 20 km, the corridors will link Lajpat Nagar to G Block in Saket and Inderlok to Indraprastha. Almost 2.5 lakh commuters will be benefitted from the new corridor. The announcement is made a few days before the Lok Sabha election dates are announced. The estimated cost of the metro project is Rs 8,600 crore, which will be funded by the Union and Delhi governments as well as international agencies.

The Inderlok - Indraprastha corridor is planned as a Green Line extension, offering interchangeability with the Red, Yellow, Airport Line, Magenta, Violet, and Blue Lines.

The Silver, Magenta, Pink, and Violet Lines will be connected by the Lajpat Nagar and Saket G Block corridor.

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With this decision, the Centre aims at controlling pollution in and around Delhi-NCR and easing commuter travel, according to officials. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his desire to accelerate infrastructure development in Delhi-NCR.

He highlighted that reducing traffic for commuters is just as important to the BJP government as reducing pollution in the metropolis.

“These two lines will bring down the travel time as passengers won’t have to take long defours (by trains) to reach the destinations. These will connect busy commercial areas. Once the projects are approved, DMRC will start the bidding process. There is a greater need to connect more part of Delhi with Metro to deal with increasing congestion,” said a source, as reported by the Times of India.