Mandi House-Central Secretariat line opened to public

Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu Thursday flagged off the Central Secretariat - Mandi House section of the Delhi Metro and urged his cabinet colleagues to use the services.

The service will cater to some 70,000 additional commuters and ease pressure off the Rajiv Chowk station that hosts lakhs of passengers daily.

With the opening of the first section of phase III, Mandi House station will be a connecting point for three Metro lines; Noida-Dwarka Sector 21, Central Secretariat-Badarpur and Jahangirpuri-Huda City Centre.

"Earlier, for travelling from Central Secretariat to Mandi House one had to come to Rajiv Chowk. The new line will help decongest busy Rajiv Chowk which hosts five lakh people everyday," Naidu said.

"This is one of the important steps the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has taken since 2002 for improving the life of the people of the nation capital."

Talking to reporters at the Central Secretariat Metro station, Naidu said: "I have written a letter to the all my colleagues in the cabinet, suggesting that they can avail of Metro train and help reduce pollution and congestion."

"This is an advice," added Naidu.

Describing DMRC's former managing director E. Sreedharan as the "father" of the Metro service in the capital, Naidu asked its current chief Mangu Singh to take cue from him.

"Metro services combined with the efficient way of transport is the only way to reduce the hardship of urban travel," he added.

The third phase of Delhi Metro is slated to be completed by the end of 2016.