Lucknow: Did you know that the Mahanagar area of the city was part of the Metro route in the original alignment plan, but was dropped later? A comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report tabled in the state Assembly on Friday revealed that Mahanagar Metro Station, between IT College Crossing and Badshah Nagar, was mentioned in the DPR, but didn’t make it to the final list.The CAG report states that in Dec 2013, the central govt had granted pre-approval for Phase-1A of the Lucknow Metro. The DPR, an MOU between the Centre and UP govt, the finance contract with the European investment bank (EIB), and the project agreement with EIB all specified the construction of 22 stations along the 23-km corridor.According to the DPR, Mahanagar station was projected to get the third-highest passenger footfall in 2015 and the second highest by 2020. A source in the Lucknow Municipal Corporation said the area has two separate wards (Mahanagar and Vivekananda Puri) with over one lakh population.However, the audit found that the executing company — UP Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) — built only 21 stations, dropping Mahanagar from the alignment. No evidence was produced to show that any proposal for its exclusion was placed before the central or state govts nor any approval was obtained, the report says. The CAG noted that bypassing the sanctioned DPR violated multiple binding documents — DPR, MoU, finance contract, and the project agreement — and deprived the Mahanagar area of a key Metro facility despite projected high ridership.In Sept 2024, the state govt claimed that the change was not concealed, stating that the ministry of housing and urban affairs had notified the alignment with 21 stations after examining it against the original DPR.The CAG found state govt response unconvincing, noting that while the UPMRC informed MoHUA about other major alterations — such as changing the proposed elevated station at Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport to an underground one — it failed to disclose the removal of Mahanagar station. The audit stressed that any deviation from the approved DPR required a separate, explicit approval from the GoI along with justification, which was neither sought nor granted.Reacting to the CAG report, the UPMRC told TOI that station locations were optimised by dropping Mahanagar. It was appropriate to have both stations ‘IT Chauraha’ and ‘Badshah Nagar’ closer to Mahanagar. Usually 1km distance has been maintained between each station.
