Delhi has the first completely green Metro system in the world

Delhi Metro has become the only completely 'green' Metro system in the world for adhering to green building norms for its residential colonies, DMRC officials said on Friday.

Delhi Metro has secured the platinum rating for adherence to green building norms for its 10 residential colonies from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had earlier received the green certificates for its Phase-3 stations, depots, and sub-stations, said a statement.

Speaking on the need for energy optimisation, DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh emphasised the need for 'green transport'.

"Energy consumption has increased by 700 per cent in the last four decades in the country and this will increase further three times by 2030.

"One of the major users of energy is the transport sector, that also, urban transport. Therefore, it is very relevant to focus on Metro systems and talk of green Metro," he said at the third conference on Green Metro Systems held at Metro Bhawan on Friday.

In addition, DMRC has also successfully achieved the target of generating 20 MW of solar power by the year 2017 by adding another 2.6 MW of solar power facilities across the Metro network.

The new solar power facilities were dedicated to the nation MD Singh and other senior officials.

Praising the Delhi Metro for its initiatives to reduce carbon-footprints at its premises, Prem C Jain, Chairman, IGBC, said: "DMRC was the first one to become a green Metro. The platinum ratings they have got is very hard earned and a lot of toil has gone into the process."

The chairman of the conference and AK Gupta, Director (Electrical), DMRC also highlighted the different green initiatives by DMRC and elaborated on the various projects scheduled to be taken up in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, S. Raghupathy, Deputy Director General, CII and Chair, Asia Pacific, World Green Building Council said: "India with a green building footprint of 4.6 billion square feet had the second largest green building footprint in the world."

The DMRC also mentioned 'Swachh Chetna - An Eco Club', a joint initiative of the DMRC and Shri Ram School, Gurugram, for its efforts to "encourage school children to participate in the more environment friendly projects and activities".

The National Conference on ' Green Metro Systems' was attended by delegates from all other Metro Systems in the country.

They deliberated on a rage of issues regarding the adoption of green technologies for planning, constructing and operating Metro systems.