Metro construction near you? RTI for the records

Sunita lives in a mid-rise residential society in a tier-2 city that, in 2024, was promised a metro corridor. For the first year she was delighted — the blue hoardings went up, the route map was pasted at the local municipal office, and property prices climbed. Then, in early 2026, a Section 11 preliminary land-acquisition notice appeared at the tehsil office. The survey and khasra numbers on it covered the society's approach road and a strip of adjoining private plots. No one from the metro corporation came to explain what would be taken, at what price, or when.

Within weeks, piling and demolition work began barely 30 metres from her building. A fine grey dust settled on every balcony. At night, the vibration from the pile-drivers rattled window panes and woke the children. Sunita called the metro corporation's helpline eight times in two months. Each time she was given a complaint number and told “the engineer will visit.” No engineer came. The notice board at the site still showed the original 2027 completion date, but the contractors on the ground quietly said the line had already slipped by a year.

Sunita's problem is not unique. Across India, metro rail projects cut through dense neighbourhoods, acquire private land, divert traffic, and reshape the air and noise around homes. The corporations that build them — Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, Chennai Metro Rail, Mumbai Metro, Nagpur Metro and many more — are government-controlled bodies. They hold the records that decide your compensation, your air quality, and your timeline. The Right to Information Act, 2005 lets you read those records. This guide shows you exactly how, using only verified law and the practical route a resident can follow.

A metro rail project is a large urban transit system built and operated by a metro rail corporation — a government company, usually a 50:50 joint venture of the Government of India and the state government, or a state-government special-purpose vehicle. DMRC is a 50:50 joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. BMRCL (Bangalore), CMRL (Chennai), MMRC and MahaMetro (Mumbai/Nagpur/Pune), NMRCL (Nagpur) and others are state-government JVs or SPVs with government equity and government guarantees. Because they are owned and substantially financed by government, every one of them is a public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005. The Central Information Commission confirmed this for DMRC as far back as 2007 in Gita Dewan Verma v. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (CIC/OK/A/2007/00646), directing disclosure of records on property development, board members and safety commissioner reports.

The central nodal ministry is the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), headquartered at Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi. Its Public Information Cell sits under the Under Secretary (P&PI) in Room No. 501-C, and the MRTS divisions MRTS-I to MRTS-IV handle different city metros. If your metro line receives Central financial assistance, MoHUA is the ministry you select on rtionline.gov.in. (Note: the older name “Ministry of Urban Development” or “MoUD” was changed to MoHUA in 2017 — always use the current name so your application is not misrouted.)

New metro proposals seeking Central financial assistance are governed by the Metro Rail Policy 2017, approved by the Union Cabinet on 16 August 2017 and issued by MoHUA. It mandates an alternate-analysis comparing bus rapid transit, light rail and tram against metro, a PPP option for central-assisted projects, an economic internal rate of return threshold of 14 per cent (replacing the earlier financial IRR of 8 per cent), transit-oriented development, value-capture financing, last-mile feeder services within five kilometres, a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority, and 75 per cent indigenisation of rolling stock. When you ask whether a proposed line followed this policy, you are asking a question the corporation is legally required to have answered.

On the operations side, the statute is the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002 — originally the Delhi Metro Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, renamed and extended beyond Delhi NCR to other metropolitan cities by the Metro Railways (Amendment) Act, 2009. The construction-side statute is the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978. These are the laws under which a metro corporation acquires land, lets tenders, and runs trains.

A metro line passes through four legal stages, and each stage creates a paper trail you can demand.

1. Planning and approval. The state government or the metro corporation prepares a Detailed Project Report (DPR) with the alignment, station list, cost estimate, traffic demand, and completion schedule. For Central assistance, the DPR goes to MoHUA, which checks it against the Metro Rail Policy 2017 and forwards it to the Union Cabinet. The DPR is the master document — every later claim about cost, route or timeline traces back to it.
2. Land acquisition. Land for stations, depots, viaducts and corridors is acquired under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act, Act No. 30 of 2013, in force 1 January 2014). Section 11 is the preliminary notification — published in the Gazette and two newspapers, pasted at the Panchayat, Municipality, Collector, SDM and Tehsil offices, and put on the government website, with the public-purpose statement, the Social Impact Assessment summary, and the R&R Administrator's particulars. Land records must be updated within two months under Section 11(5). Section 15 gives you 60 days to object. Section 19 is the declaration that the land is needed for public purpose — conclusive evidence, but it must be made within 12 months of the Section 11 notification, else the notification is deemed rescinded under Section 19(7). The R&R Scheme summary is published alongside the Section 19 declaration.
3. Environment clearance. Under the EIA Notification 2006 (S.O. 1533(E) dated 14 September 2006, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986), metro stations and depots may fall under Item 8(a) Building/Construction of 20,000 sq m or more — which is exempt from public consultation — while larger area development (Item 8(b), above 50 ha or above 1,50,000 sq m built-up) is Category B1 with public consultation. The public hearing is conducted by the State Pollution Control Board under Paragraph 7(i), Stage (3), within 45 days of the request, and written responses are invited through website publication of the Summary EIA. A Category A project gets its Environment Clearance from MoEFCC; a Category B project from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). The EC order, the EIA report, and the public-hearing minutes are all disclosable.
4. Tendering and award. The corporation floats a tender (usually an RFP), receives technical and financial bids, evaluates them, and issues a Letter of Award. The technical-evaluation minutes and the Letter of Award are disclosable. The financial-bid cells of losing bidders may be redacted under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act — commercial confidence and trade secrets — unless larger public interest warrants disclosure. The Supreme Court in Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. v. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., (2016) 16 SCC 818 (Lokur and Agrawal JJ, 15 September 2016) held that courts will interfere in tender decisions only for mala fide, favouritism or perversity, and will otherwise defer to the employer's interpretation of its own tender documents. For your RTI, this means the tender records are reviewable, but the corporation has latitude on how it read its own bid conditions.

The Metro Rail Policy 2017 remains the governing framework for every new metro proposal seeking Central financial assistance, and it has not been replaced. What has changed is the scrutiny environment. With multiple tier-2 cities either extending existing corridors or proposing new lines, the questions that residents most often need to ask — has the alternate-analysis been done, has the EIRR threshold been met, is the last-mile feeder plan within five kilometres in place — are all answered in records the corporation holds today.

Two things to act on now. First, LARR Act Section 19(7) is a hard clock: if the Section 11 notification for your stretch was issued more than 12 months ago and no Section 19 declaration has followed, the acquisition notification is deemed rescinded. An RTI asking for the date of the Section 19 declaration can reveal whether your acquisition is still legally alive. Second, the EIA Notification 2006 public-consultation window is short — 45 days from the SPCB receiving the request. If you missed the hearing, the minutes and the written submissions are still obtainable by RTI, and they often show whether objections from your neighbourhood were recorded and answered.

You will usually file more than one application, because land, environment, tender and Central-funding records sit with different authorities. File them in parallel so no single PIO can send you away saying “not held here.”

Step 1 — Identify the public authorities.

1. Central: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India — for Central-funded portions, Metro Rail Policy 2017 compliance, and approvals. File online at rtionline.gov.in by selecting MoHUA.
2. State Metro Rail Corporation: the CPIO of DMRC, BMRCL, CMRL, MMRC, MahaMetro, NMRCL or your state's corporation — for the DPR, tender records, payment milestones, complaint register and revised completion date. State corporations are filed offline or through the state RTI portal.
3. District Collector / Land Acquisition Officer: for the Section 11 notification, the SIA summary, the Section 19 declaration, and the compensation schedule.
4. Member Secretary, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) / State Pollution Control Board: for the Environment Clearance, the EIA report, and the public-hearing minutes.

Step 2 — Prepare your questions. Ask for specific, dated records. Six strong sample questions:

1. “Furnish a certified copy of the Detailed Project Report for the [Line / Phase / Corridor] metro project, with the cost estimate, alignment, station list and original completion date.”
2. “Furnish the Section 11 preliminary notification and the Social Impact Assessment summary issued under the LARR Act, 2013 for survey/khasra numbers [list], together with the Section 19 declaration and its date.”
3. “Furnish the Environment Clearance order, the EIA report, and the public-hearing minutes held by the State Pollution Control Board under the EIA Notification 2006 for the [Corridor] metro project.”
4. “Furnish the technical-evaluation minutes and the Letter of Award for the viaduct/civil contract for the [Corridor], with the financial-bid cells of losing bidders redacted under Section 8(1)(d) if necessary.”
5. “Furnish the payment-milestone schedule for the awarded contractor and the payments released so far, instalment-wise with dates and amounts.”
6. “Furnish the complaint-register entries for complaints lodged by residents of [address/society] regarding dust, vibration and noise from metro construction during the last 12 months, with action-taken reports.”

Step 3 — Use the right form and fee. The fee is Rs.10 for non-BPL applicants under the RTI Rules, 2012, payable by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, or cash against receipt. BPL applicants are exempt but must attach a BPL certificate. For Central authorities (MoHUA), file online at rtionline.gov.in and pay by debit or credit card; you will get a registration number for tracking. For state corporations, check your state's RTI rules — most also charge Rs.10. See RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your for the step-by-step online filing process and RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026) for fee and payment-mode details.

Step 4 — Submit and keep proof. File by hand and take a stamped receiving copy, or send by registered post and keep the acknowledgement, or file online and save the registration number. Proof of submission is your protection if the reply is delayed.

Step 5 — Wait 30 days. The PIO must reply within 30 days under Section 7(1) of the RTI Act (48 hours where life or liberty is at stake — which a records query normally is not). If no reply comes, treat the 30th day as a deemed refusal and move to the appeal ladder.

RTI has a built-in ladder. If the PIO ignores you or gives a vague reply, you do not stop.

1. First Appeal: Under Section 19(1), file with the First Appellate Authority (FAA) in the same department within 30 days of the deadline. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45. The first appeal is free.
2. Second Appeal: If the FAA also fails you, file a Second Appeal under Section 19(3) with the Central Information Commission (for MoHUA and Central-funded portions) or your State Information Commission (for the state corporation), within 90 days of the FAA order. There is no fee for a second appeal to the Central Information Commission.
3. Complaint under Section 18: If the PIO never replied at all or refused to accept your application, you can also file a direct complaint to the Information Commission.

For metro projects, the common pattern is that the corporation PIO releases the DPR and complaint register but withholds tender records citing Section 8(1)(d), and the Collector's office releases the Section 11 notification but not the compensation schedule. Filing at all four authorities in parallel prevents the pass-the-buck response.

1. A photocopy of your identity proof (Aadhaar, voter ID, PAN or passport) — mandatory for citizenship verification.
2. The BPL certificate if you are claiming the fee waiver.
3. The Indian Postal Order for Rs.10 (or online payment receipt) made payable to the Accounts Officer of the concerned public authority — for DMRC, “Accounts Officer, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.”
4. A copy of the Section 11 notification or the property tax receipt / sale deed showing your plot falls in the affected stretch, if your query is land-specific.
5. The complaint numbers and dates you received from the metro helpline, if your query is about nuisance.
6. A self-addressed stamped envelope for the reply (where filing offline).

1. Not citing the specific line, phase, station or khasra number. A question about “the metro project” lets the PIO reply that there are several projects and ask you to clarify, burning 30 days. Always pin your question to a named corridor and stretch.
2. Asking for the contractor's internal cost sheet or the losing bidders' financial bids. These are protected under Section 8(1)(d) as commercial confidence and trade secrets unless larger public interest warrants disclosure. Ask instead for the technical-evaluation minutes, the Letter of Award, and the payment-milestone schedule — those are disclosable.
3. Ignoring the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority. The Environment Clearance for a Category B project sits with the SEIAA, not with the metro corporation. If you ask only the corporation, you will be told “not held.”
4. Forgetting the LARR Act, 2013 for compensation. The compensation schedule flows from the Section 19 declaration and the R&R Scheme under LARR. Asking the metro corporation for “compensation” without citing LARR sections gets you a vague answer; asking the Collector for the Section 19 declaration and the compensation schedule gets you the document.
5. Missing the 60-day objection window under LARR Section 15. RTI gives you the records, but the objection window is a separate statutory clock — if you want to object to the acquisition, do not let the RTI process eat your 60 days.
6. Using the old ministry name “MoUD.” It was renamed to MoHUA in 2017. Use the current name so your Central application is not misrouted.

To,
The Central Public Information Officer,
[State Metro Rail Corporation Name] / Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs,
[Address — e.g., Metro Bhawan, Fire Brigade Lane, Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi-110001 for DMRC]

Subject: Request for information under Section 6(1) of the Right to
Information Act, 2005, regarding the [Line / Phase / Corridor] metro project.

Sir/Madam,

I, [Full Name], a citizen of India, resident of [Full Address], hereby
request the following information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Project details:
  Metro Line / Phase / Corridor: ____________
  Station / Depot / Alignment of concern: ____________
  Nature of concern (land / construction / compensation / R&R /
  environment / tender): ____________
  Survey / Khasra number(s), if land-related: ____________

Please furnish:

1. A certified copy of the Detailed Project Report for the said corridor,
   with cost estimate, alignment, station list and original completion date.
2. A certified copy of the Environment Clearance order, the EIA report,
   and the public-hearing minutes held by the State Pollution Control
   Board under the EIA Notification, 2006 for the said project.
3. Certified copies of the Section 11 preliminary notification and the
   Section 19 declaration issued under the LARR Act, 2013 for survey/
   khasra numbers [list], together with the Social Impact Assessment
   summary and the compensation schedule.
4. The technical-evaluation minutes and the Letter of Award for the
   civil/viaduct contract, with financial-bid cells of losing bidders
   redacted under Section 8(1)(d) if necessary.
5. The payment-milestone schedule to the awarded contractor and the
   payments released so far, instalment-wise with dates and amounts.
6. The Rehabilitation and Resettlement entitlement for affected
   households and its disbursement status.
7. Complaint-register entries for complaints lodged by residents of
   [address/society] during the last 12 months, with action-taken reports.
8. The current revised completion date and the reasons for any prior
   revision, with the cost-revision record and approving authority.
9. The name, designation and address of the First Appellate Authority
   under Section 19(1).

I am filing this application as a citizen under Section 6(1) and
request information under Section 7(1). I do not require personal
information of any third party, and I have no commercial interest. If
any part of the request is held by another public authority, please
transfer it under Section 6(3) within five days.

I enclose Indian Postal Order No. __________ for Rs.10 (Rs. Ten only)
favouring the Accounts Officer, [Public Authority Name]. If I am
entitled to a fee waiver as a BPL applicant, the certificate is
enclosed.

If the information is denied in whole or in part, I propose to file a
First Appeal under Section 19(1) and a Second Appeal under Section 19(3).

Yours faithfully,

[Signature]
[Name]
[Address]
[Date]

Yes. DMRC, BMRCL, CMRL, MMRC, NMRCL and every other metro rail corporation are government-owned or substantially financed bodies, and therefore public authorities under Section 2(h). The Central Information Commission confirmed this for DMRC in Gita Dewan Verma v. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (CIC/OK/A/2007/00646), directing disclosure of property, board and safety records. A corporation that is a JV with a private partner is still in scope, because the government equity and guarantee make it a public authority.

Generally no. These are commercial confidence and trade secrets under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act, unless a larger public interest warrants disclosure. What you can get are the technical-evaluation minutes, the Letter of Award, and the payment-milestone schedule — these are records of the corporation's own decision and disbursement, not the contractor's internal pricing. The Supreme Court in Afcons Infrastructure v. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation (2016) 16 SCC 818 held that courts defer to the employer's interpretation of its own tender documents, so tender records are reviewable but the corporation has latitude.

For a Category A project, with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). For a Category B project, with the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). The public-hearing minutes sit with the State Pollution Control Board, which conducts the hearing under Paragraph 7(i) of the EIA Notification 2006. The metro corporation itself often does not hold the EC, so filing only there will get you a “not held” reply. See Using RTI to Know About Pollution, Water Quality, and Environmental and Pollution NOC CTE/CTO delay — RTI to State Pollution Control Board for the wider environment-records route.

The Section 11 preliminary notification (with the SIA summary) and the Section 19 declaration under the LARR Act, 2013, both from the District Collector / Land Acquisition Officer. The Section 11 notification tells you what is being taken and why; the Section 19 declaration is the conclusive public-purpose finding. If more than 12 months have passed between Section 11 and Section 19, the notification is deemed rescinded under Section 19(7) — an RTI asking for the date of the Section 19 declaration can reveal this. See Land Records or Property Status Not Clear? Use RTI to Access Official and land-acquisition-compensation-delayed-wrong-claimant for the land-records route.

File an RTI with the metro corporation CPIO asking for the complaint-register entries for your address and the action-taken reports. A non-action on record is evidence you can use in a First Appeal and, if needed, before the National Green Tribunal for dust/vibration nuisance. Pair this with an RTI to the State Pollution Control Board for the consent-to-establish and consent-to-operate records for the depot and station sites. See Noise complaint ignored? RTI to get the decibel log, loudspeaker licence and action-taken record for the noise route and pollution-cto-renewal-refused-closure-notice-small-business for the consent route.

This guide covers construction concerns — land acquisition, environment clearance, R&R, nuisance and tender irregularities. The sibling guide Metro project progress — RTI to track your city line is narrower and covers project progress — DPR milestones, contractor, expenditure, variation orders and completion dates. If your question is “is the line on time and where has the money gone,” use the progress guide; if your question is “what is being done to my land, my air and my neighbourhood,” use this one. Many residents will need both.

Rs.10 for non-BPL applicants under the RTI Rules, 2012, by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, cash against receipt, or online payment. BPL applicants are exempt but must attach the BPL certificate. The First Appeal is free. For Central authorities, pay online at rtionline.gov.in; for state corporations, follow your state's RTI rules. See RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026) for state-wise fee details.

Under Section 7(5) the PIO can charge for the cost of making copies, but must inform you of the cost before supplying the information. You have the right to inspect the records free of charge during office hours and take notes — this is often enough to find the page you need, then ask for a certified copy of just that page. Ask for inspection first when the record is large.

1. RTI Act, 2005 — Sections 2(h), 4, 6(1), 6(3), 7(1), 8(1)(d), 10, 19: [rtionline.gov.in/faq.php](https://rtionline.gov.in/faq.php)
2. Central RTI online portal (DoPT, hosted by NIC): [rtionline.gov.in](https://rtionline.gov.in)
3. LARR Act, 2013 (Act No. 30 of 2013, in force 1 January 2014) — Sections 11, 15, 19: [indiacode.nic.in](https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2121/1/A2013-30.pdf)
4. EIA Notification 2006 (S.O. 1533(E) dated 14 September 2006) — Paragraph 7(i), Stage (3): [mczma.gov.in](https://www.mczma.gov.in/sites/default/files/EIA_Notification_14_9_2006.pdf)
5. Metro Rail Policy 2017, MoHUA (Union Cabinet approval 16 August 2017): [mohua.gov.in](https://www.mohua.gov.in/upload/whatsnew/59a3f7f130eecMetro_Rail_Policy_2017.pdf) ; PIB release: [pib.gov.in](https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170009)
6. Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, as amended by Act 34/2009; Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978
7. Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. v. Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., (2016) 16 SCC 818 (SC, 15 September 2016): [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/24488735/)
8. Gita Dewan Verma v. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, CIC/OK/A/2007/00646 (Central Information Commission): [architexturez.net](https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-165649)
9. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs — Metro Rail: [mohua.gov.in](https://www.mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Metro%20Rail%20_%20MoHUA.pdf)
10. DMRC CPIO contact details: [delhimetrorail.com](https://backend.delhimetrorail.com/documents/1726/Contact-Details-of-DMRC-Officials-02022022.pdf)
11. Comptroller and Auditor General of India — performance audits: [cag.gov.in](https://cag.gov.in)

1. RTI for metro project progress — milestones and expenditure
2. RTI for land records
3. RTI for environment and pollution
4. RTI for noise pollution
5. RTI for pollution NOC and consent
6. RTI for slum rehabilitation and R&R
7. RTI for Smart City Mission
8. Pillar 2 — RTI for Community and Society

If you need help drafting this application, use our free AI RTI Draft App at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html — describe your metro problem and get a ready-to-file Section 6(1) application. To check whether a PIO reply is complete or evasive, use https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/pio-reply-checker-app.html , and to calculate your appeal deadlines, use https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html .

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.