Metro for Agra, Bhopal, Patna, But Not Coimbatore & Madurai?

Tamil Nadu’s Metro proposals for Coimbatore and Madurai were rejected by the Union government citing the “20-lakh population criteria.” But this decision has sparked questions, because metros were previously approved in cities below that threshold.

The metro policy does not specify that population must be based on the 2011 Census — yet the Centre used decade-old numbers to deny Coimbatore and Madurai their Metro projects. At the same time, metros have been approved in several cities that were also below 20 lakh at the time of sanctioning, including Agra, Bhopal and Patna. This raises an important question: Is the population rule being applied consistently across India? Pooja Prasanna breaks it down in this explainer.

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