It may be recalled that at that time the Prime Minister of India was Indira Gandhi, who showed keen personal interest in the growth of metropolitan Delhi and specially the creation of a Rapid Mass Transportation system for the National Capital Region. She also showed great interest in the formulation of the second Master Plan of Delhi, which would contain the blueprint for the next 20 years of development and growth of Delhi, specially the Rapid Mass Transportation System, which included the seminal idea of a metro rail for Delhi.

Indira Gandhi was followed by her son, Rajiv Gandhi, as her successor and Prime Minister after her assassination. Rajiv Gandhi too showed keen interest in the creation of a metro rail network to link different parts of Delhi.

After Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister Deve Gowda showed a keen interest in the creation of the Metro Rail System in the Capital in a tangible form. During a face-to-face with The DayAfter, he displayed a copy of the Cabinet decision and the subsequent notification about the setting up of the Metro Rail in the Capital, during his time. He was understandably peeved and pained at the fact that he was not even formally invited to participate in the inauguration of the first phase of the much publicised Metro Railway for Delhi.

No doubt the implementation of the Metro Railway for Delhi was on top of the agenda of the Congress Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, who pressed hard for the launching of the much-talked about system in the capital. The railway ministry, under the prime ministership of the BJP stalwart, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also showed adequate interest and the idea was pursued with a certain urgency and speed. Finally, the Metro Rail was inaugurated by the Prime Minister with great fanfare and the Delhi Chief Minister too was provided a seat on the inaugural run of the glamorised train. A former BJP Chief Minister of Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana, was nominated by the Union Government to be the Chairman of the Metro Railway Undertaking.

Then came the period of more conflict and confusion on about who should wear the crown for giving Delhi its Metro Rail, almost a quarter century after the idea was first mooted.

DANFES pursued the investigation into the origin of the Delhi Metro idea and project and found that it could be easily traced to the efforts of those town and city planners who were looking for solutions to the future growth of Delhi in the second Master Plan after the inordinate delay in both the formulation and implementation of the first Master Plan of Delhi. The delays of course were caused by bureaucratic wrangles between the multiplicity of authorities in Delhi Administration about who should call the shots and dominate the areas of influence, vote banks and visible and invisible profits from Delhi, which often set the trend for the rest of the country in terms of political and economic happenings.

Responding to the observation that he was talking about the rail transport as something like a spinal chord with offshoots as in the human system, Dr. Rana was quick to observe: "In fact, nature has given us the best models if we can understand them and follow them. I would call what I have described as the infrastructure spine. It can sustain traffic."

When The DayAfter jumped in with an observation and a question: "Sir, while you are talking about the infrastructural spinal chord and the linear cities, do you think what we have been doing so far to tackle the mass traffic problem is spineless, because very little scope has been left to create the infrastructure in highly congested cities and their surroundings."

Unperturbed by the journalistic question, Dr. Rana said: "In 1996, when, at a seminar, we were discussing the Delhi Metro, I said that in the ‘Seventies, I was a staunch supporter of the Metro in Delhi. During the ‘Eighties I became lukewarm and during the ‘Nineties it has got me worried.

When asked to explain why, he said: "In 1971, it was a strategic plan and all future growth would have taken place around it. The first phase was to be completed by 1981. Therefore, the additional one crore population which has increased in Delhi would have reoriented itself around those corridors."

Was the Master Plan a victim of distortion and the Metro the first victim within it? "Yes" he said and pointed out: "If the population would have reoriented itself along those corridors, the Metro would have been viable by now. That the population redistributed itself according to the road capacity is the dilemma. It could not be concentrated; it had to disperse. And now, if you put the Metro into action, which we are doing today, it will take another 15 to 20 years to make it viable. It means there had to be a re-identification of the transport corridors."

When asked was it the original Metro concept to destroy and disfigure several historical landmarks in Delhi to rush with the Metro project suddenly as it was being done now, one felt sad to see what they have done to Vijay Chowk, complain the environmentalists and heritage preservers, Dr. Rana explained: "Vijay Chowk need not have been disturbed. They could have tunnelled below without it being even noticed at the top. In the Metro concept, I would give the first priority to the surface network of Delhi. Almost 155 kilometres of Indian railways network is available in it. If you energise that, it would provide you almost 80 per cent of the Metro network. See, if you start from Shahdara, right up to Shakur Basti and Bahadurgarh, and if you start from Narela, right up to Tughakabad, it is Metro. It will go right through the city."

The DayAfter asked: "When you had conceived the Metro network, how much was it underground and how much of it was surface?"

Dr. Rana pointed out: "Originally, only 38 kilometres of Metro was planned underground, the rest of it all was on the surface."

Would it finally run into 200 kilometres of underground railway network in Delhi? He said that in the first phase it was supposed to be 55 kilometres and the rest of it would come in the later phases.

Asked whether it was possible to still follow the original 200 kilometres of the Metro Railway, he said it would have to be extended on certain sides. Earlier, Raja Garden was underground but beyond it was surface. In any Metro rail that you have seen around the world, you would have seen that when it comes to the city periphery, it comes in the open. They are in the open channel, on the surface, only the central park was underground, but once you came out, it was to be on the surface, in the open. Beyond IIT, it was to be surface. From Raja Garden to Najafgarh, it was to be surface. This, because there was no development at that time.

The most cost effective, efficient and environmental friendly transport system is provided by having- rail as the basic mode and;- walk, cycle, rickshaws, etc. as feeders. Development of new rail-based transportation network in the existing cities requires substantial capital investment. On the other hand, developing new urban centres along the existing rail corridors proves cost effective.

Responding to the observation that he was talking about the rail transport as something like a spinal chord with offshoots as in the human system, Dr. Rana was quick to observe: "In fact, nature has given us the best models if we can understand them and follow them. I would call what I have described as the infrastructure spine. It can sustain traffic."

When The DayAfter jumped in with an observation and a question: "Sir, while you are talking about the infrastructural spinal chord and the linear cities, do you think what we have been doing so far to tackle the mass traffic problem is spineless, because very little scope has been left to create the infrastructure in highly congested cities and their surroundings."

Unperturbed by the journalistic question, Dr. Rana said: "In 1996, when, at a seminar, we were discussing the Delhi Metro, I said that in the ‘Seventies, I was a staunch supporter of the Metro in Delhi. During the ‘Eighties I became lukewarm and during the ‘Nineties it has got me worried.

When asked to explain why, he said: "In 1971, it was a strategic plan and all future growth would have taken place around it. The first phase was to be completed by 1981. Therefore, the additional one crore population which has increased in Delhi would have reoriented itself around those corridors."

Was the Master Plan a victim of distortion and the Metro the first victim within it? "Yes" he said and pointed out: "If the population would have reoriented itself along those corridors, the Metro would have been viable by now. That the population redistributed itself according to the road capacity is the dilemma. It could not be concentrated; it had to disperse. And now, if you put the Metro into action, which we are doing today, it will take another 15 to 20 years to make it viable. It means there had to be a re-identification of the transport corridors."

When asked was it the original Metro concept to destroy and disfigure several historical landmarks in Delhi to rush with the Metro project suddenly as it was being done now, one felt sad to see what they have done to Vijay Chowk, complain the environmentalists and heritage preservers, Dr. Rana explained: "Vijay Chowk need not have been disturbed. They could have tunnelled below without it being even noticed at the top. In the Metro concept, I would give the first priority to the surface network of Delhi. Almost 155 kilometres of Indian railways network is available in it. If you energise that, it would provide you almost 80 per cent of the Metro network. See, if you start from Shahdara, right up to Shakur Basti and Bahadurgarh, and if you start from Narela, right up to Tughakabad, it is Metro. It will go right through the city."

The DayAfter asked: "When you had conceived the Metro network, how much was it underground and how much of it was surface?"

Dr. Rana pointed out: "Originally, only 38 kilometres of Metro was planned underground, the rest of it all was on the surface."

Would it finally run into 200 kilometres of underground railway network in Delhi? He said that in the first phase it was supposed to be 55 kilometres and the rest of it would come in the later phases.

Asked whether it was possible to still follow the original 200 kilometres of the Metro Railway, he said it would have to be extended on certain sides. Earlier, Raja Garden was underground but beyond it was surface. In any Metro rail that you have seen around the world, you would have seen that when it comes to the city periphery, it comes in the open. They are in the open channel, on the surface, only the central park was underground, but once you came out, it was to be on the surface, in the open. Beyond IIT, it was to be surface. From Raja Garden to Najafgarh, it was to be surface. This, because there was no development at that time.