The metro rail is all set to roll into the very heart of the Indian capital since taking birth six years ago, with one official saying this will change the way Delhi lives.

Some time this month, Delhi Metro's underground section from Delhi University to Kashmiri Gate will be extended right up to Central Secretariat, the government complex close to Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace.

The seven-kilometre extension will cover the much used Old Delhi and New Delhi railway stations as well as Connaught Place, the commercial hub that is a haunt of both Indian and foreign tourists.

"It is a very, very important metro connection," said E. Sreedharan, the managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) who has won widespread praise for introducing an efficient and quality rail in a city of about 15 million.

"This section runs through the most crowded areas and connects the central business district and offices in Central Secretariat. A one-hour (bus) travel will now consume just 20 minutes," Sreedharan told IANS.

Added DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal: "This will be a welcome alternative for people who travel to Connaught Place from north Delhi now by buses.

"For those used only to jam-packed buses, here will be a world-class way to travel. People will be able to travel in air-conditioned comfort in a completely safe and affordable mode of transport."

And there are many who just cannot wait for it to happen.

Delhi University professor Jagdish P. Sharma, who already uses the metro, is all praise for it.

"It is the safest and non-polluting mode of transport. It hardly takes me four-five minutes now to reach Kashmere Gate. Now I can travel in comfort without the hassles of our buses."

Although the Delhi University-Kashmiri Gate metro line now caters to some 20,000 people every day, the number is expected to shoot up when it is extended up to the city centre.

DMRC estimates the daily passenger strength to go up by 100,000.

Already, the 22-km metro network between Shahdara in east Delhi and Rithala in northwest Delhi is operational. This covers 18 stations and carries some 150,000 passengers every day.

Another line linking Indraprastha on the edge of east Delhi and Dwarka in west Delhi via the Connaught Place area will start next year.

Connaught Place traders, increasingly facing competition from the growing number of malls, are hoping that the Delhi University-Central Secretariat line will bring back crowds that once used to haunt the shopping area.

"Our business had been suffering due to the digging that has been going around Connaught Place for months. We hope the metro will bring back our business," said Manoj Agarwal, president of the New Delhi Traders Association.

"On an average shopkeepers in Connaught Place have suffered losses of 25-50 percent ever since the metro project started here," said Agarwal. The association is an apex body of Connaught Place-based traders and shopkeepers.

"Because of the parking problems due to the digging, shoppers have not been coming like they used to. Even giving discounts has not brought in customers. We hope to get back the business we have lost," he said.

But, clearly, it is the students who are the most enthusiastic about the Delhi University-Central Secretariat route.

Said Snigdha Sah, who travels from her south Delhi home to the university campus in the city's north, almost 25 km away.
 
"It will be a relief. I hate going in smelly, overcrowded buses. Going to university daily by bus is quite daunting," said Sah, who changes buses daily at Central Secretariat for going to the university.

No wonder spokesman Dayal is confident: "The metro will make Delhi more liveable."