Noida, Jan 25 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri on Friday flagged off the Noida Metro Rail Corp's (NMRC) 29.7-km Noida-Greater Noida metro corridor at the Sector 137 station here.

The 21-station stretch was completed in record time in December 2018, after being conceptualised by the government in June 2017, Adityanath said while inaugurating the network. It will run from Noida Sector 51 to Depot Metro station.

"In Delhi, over 36 lakh passengers commute daily in the metro. If the metro wasn't there, what would have been the condition of Delhi's roads?" Adityanath asked.

"Today we are inaugurating Noida-Greater Noida metro. In a few days, we will join Ghaziabad with the metro," he said, while announcing the government's plans to bring metro connectivity to Kanpur, Agra and Meerut.

Recognizing that the public needed safe and environment-friendly public transport systems, he said that metro was the best example of that.

The metro project's sanction cost was Rs 5,503 crore in which the Central government had "20 percent equity", Puri said, adding that many modern, citizen-friendly and eco-friendly technology had been used.

"Solar panels will be installed on the rooftops of each station. All stations will have free drinking water and public toilet services. LED lights will be used in the train coaches and on the stations," Puri said.