What Delhi can expect in the New Year

As part of the Delhi section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, the RRTS at Sarai Kale Khan is nearing completion. Once inaugurated, the travel time between Delhi and Meerut will be cut by a third — from three hours to just one.

The station will provide integrated access to a railway station, an inter-state bus station and the Delhi Metro through foot over bridges (FOBs). Sarai Kale Khan station is also the largest on the corridor, having six platforms and four tracks for Namo Bharat train movement.

Features

The station will be the centre point for other upcoming corridors as well. To accommodate the expected footfall, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has provided five entry and exit gates at the station. Equipped with 14 lifts and 18 escalators, it is 215 m in length, 50 m in width, and 15 m in height.

The station connects to the Pink Line on the Delhi Metro network, the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, Veer Hakikat Rai ISBT (Sarai Kale Khan ISBT) and city bus services. It also connects to the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Barapullah flyover, Ring Road, and DND, with proximity to the under-construction spur of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

Multiple FOBs and six travelators will connect the station to Nizamuddin railway station.

A public plaza is being planned outside the station, located between the RRTS station, the Delhi Metro station and the ISBT. This plaza will tie together the space and offer a place to all commuters to relax and rejuvenate, the NCRTC says.

The station is expected to be ready by June 2025.

Gole Market Redevelopment

Work on the much-delayed project started October 2023, after Lieutenant-Governor V K Saxena laid the foundation stone. The octagonal, tin-roofed structure, which was built in 1921, will house a museum on “unsung women heroes”. The proposal for the museum was initiated by then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit 16 years ago.

The project, inspired by London’s Covent Garden Market and the British Museum, is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 21 crore. It involves the restoration of Gole Market, a Colonial-era market, and its surrounding areas. The Union government-run New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) was earlier aiming to finish the project by the end of 2023, but the deadline was pushed to December 2024. The redevelopment is expected to be completed by August 2025.

Delhi-Dehradun Expressway

Starting from the Akshardham Metro Station, the much-awaited Delhi-Dehradun Expressway — which will reduce travel time from Delhi to Dehradun from six hours to around two-and-a-half hours — is likely to be inaugurated by the first quarter of 2025.

Divided into four parts, the 210-km corridor will pass through Akshardham, Geeta Colony, Khajuri Khas in Delhi; Mandola, Tronica City, Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh; and, finally, Dehradun in Uttarakhand.

“While the Akshardham-Eastern Peripheral Expressway stretch is complete, some work is still ongoing on other stretches. The entire stretch may be ready by March,” says a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official.

The corridor is designed for driving at a speed of 100 km per hour.

Rs 1,000 under Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojna

The controversial scheme, announced by the AAP government in the 2024-25 Budget, was cleared on December 13. The scheme promises to give Rs 1,000 per month to women aged between 18 and 60 years who do not pay income tax.

The scheme saw objections from the state Finance Department over the lack of funds and the possibility of Delhi going into a revenue deficit. Despite objections, the scheme was approved by the council of ministers.

While AAP volunteers have been going door-to-door, gathering information on likely beneficiaries, the Department of Women and Child Development had recently issued public notices saying that the portal for registration is under construction and that official registration has not yet started.

The scheme, based on similar programmes in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, is expected to be implemented in early 2025, officials say.
“Work on the portal is nearly complete. Registrations will start soon. Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for the project already and we see no roadblocks,” said a Delhi government official.

The AAP has also promised to increase the amount from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,100 if voted back to power in the upcoming elections.