Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced on Wednesday that a delegation from the state recently held a meeting with the Transport for London (TfL – a local govt. body in UK), which provided a broader perspective for implementation of a successful transport system in a developing city like Gurugram.
The CM made the announcement at a press conference in Chandigarh, following his return from Israel and the UK.
He further added that a team from the state, led by the transport minister or the transport secretary would soon visit the UK to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive transport system in Gurugram and seek collaboration with the Tfl for its success.
Khattar also spoke of his visit to the POD taxi facility at Terminal 5 of the Heathrow Airport in London.
“This is the only operational personal rapid transport system operation in the world. A similar service has been mooted between Delhi and Gurugram by the Union road transport minister,” he said.
This is the first official comment made by any minister regarding the POD taxi project since September 2016, when Gadkari, had announced that construction of the system would begin ‘in three months’.
However, the project has, since, run into continuous hurdles, with questions being raised about its safety and feasibility.
In October, 2017, there was uncertainty regarding the POD taxi project after Niti Aayog raised objections and scrapped the first expression of interest (EOI) in it, while citing issues with safety parameters and poor response from potential concessionaires.
