The plan for the project, which may take eight to 10 years for completion, is now ready for official approval.

The project was mooted at a high-level meeting in March 1998 between then Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejinder Khanna, then Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, chief secretary P.V. Jayakrishnan, secretary and engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department (PWD), the Delhi Mayor and other senior officials.

The PWD had then commissioned a private town planning firm to prepare the proposal for the project, as part of the comprehensive plan for the redevelopment of the ITO complex, which involves some 26 other smaller projects, besides the main underground tunnel.

Says the man behind the project, former additional commissioner with the Delhi Development Authority, R.G. Gupta: ``About 30 lakh people live in the Trans-Yamuna area and their only links to Delhi are the bridges across the river. But the bridges converge at points like ITO and Vikas Marg, making then extremely congested and making commuting a problem in these sectors.''

The tunnel would begin at Anand Vihar and reach India Gate somewhere near the National Museum of Modern Art.

The main mode of transport in the tunnel will be electrical trolley buses, two wheelers and four wheelers, with nine stations in the tunnel. A commuter boarding a bus, available at a frequency of five minutes, at Anand Vihar, would reach India Gate in less than half-an-hour, which is half the average time it takes to cover the distance at present.

From Anand Vihar, the tunnel would have stations at Karkari Mor, district court at Kardooma, disused water channel on Yamuna, I.P. Secretariat at Players' Building, Vikas Bhawan at ITO, Pragati Maidan exhibition grounds, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg and India Gate.

The tunnel would be open for two and four wheelers only at five stations of Anand Vihar, the disused channel at Yamuna, I.P. Secretariat, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg and India Gate. The tunnel will also have escalators for pedestrians.

About the origin of the idea of the tunnel, Gupta says: ``At the meeting in March last year, it was noted that the redevelopment of the ITO region cannot be done without completely closing down the area for some time. This, however, was ruled out as it is a very crucial intersection of the city. That is when it was decided that an alternative route should be provided underground.''

The redevelopment of ITO, which covers 13 hectares, involves the demolition of buildings in the ITO region, reconstruction of multi-storeyed office complexes, channelisation of the Sen Nursing Home canal and removing the slums in the area to make use of the land for commercial purposes.

On the financial aspect, the plan proposes: ``The project may be planned financially in such a way that investments/expenditure in the private sector becomes substantial and near about equal to the total returns, which may be generated by selling spaces in the marked land.'' This would be in addition to the plan funding from the government.