CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday showed interest in exploring new routes which could connect Panchkula and Chandigarh, and backed the idea of revisiting the plan to have Metro rail for Tricty.Khattar said it was only after he took up the issue of constituting a Tricity Development Board, on the lines of NCR Development Board, deliberations related to the issue started taking place in the two states, Union territory, and at the Centre. “Our priorities include exploring new routes connecting Panchkula with Chandigarh, as we have very less options. At the same time, we expect some Metro-like projects for the Tricity, even as Punjab and Chandigarh have already decided against these. Rest, we have already started an initiative by writing to Union home minister Rajnath Singh . Now, let him call stakeholders together so that we could take up the issue,’’ said Khattar.The Union minister’s advisory committee, in a meeting chaired by Rajnath himself in November last year, had decided against the project, saying that it was not commercially viable for the city. Khattar said they were also going to fall back on other old projects. “We had plans for railway underbridges and overbridges. Also, other issues are pending between Chandigarh administration and Haryana,” he added.Consequent to TOI’s initiative for uniform development of Tricity, Khattar had approached the Union home minister for the setting up a development board for the three cities.

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