<P> While extensive technical studies and the raising of finance for the project were in progress, the city expanded significantly resulting in a twofold rise in population and a fivefold rise in the number of vehicles between 1981 and 1998 . Consequently, traffic congestion and pollution soared, as an increasing number of commuters took to private vehicles with the existing bus system unable to bear the load . An attempt at privatising the bus transport system in 1992 merely compounded the problem, with inexperienced operators plying poorly maintained, noisy and polluting buses on lengthy routes, resulting in long waiting times, unreliable service, extreme overcrowding, unqualified drivers, speeding and reckless driving . To rectify the situation, the Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up a company called the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on 3 May 1995, with E. Sreedharan as the managing director . Dr. E. Sreedharan handed over the charge as Managing Director of DMRC to Mangu Singh on 31 December 2011 . </P> <P> Physical construction work on the Delhi Metro started on 1 October 1998 . After the previous problems experienced by the Kolkata Metro, which was badly delayed and 12 times over budget due to "political meddling, technical problems and bureaucratic delays", DMRC is a special - purpose organisation vested with great autonomy and powers to execute this gigantic project involving many technical complexities, under a difficult urban environment and within a very limited time frame . DMRC was given full powers to hire people, decide on tenders and control funds . The DMRC then hired the Hong Kong MTRC as a technical consultant on rapid transit operation and construction techniques . As a result, construction proceeded smoothly, except for one major disagreement in 2000, where the Ministry of Railways forced the system to use broad gauge despite the DMRC's preference for standard gauge . </P> <P> The first line of the Delhi Metro, the Red Line, was inaugurated by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of India, on 24 December 2002 . The Delhi Metro became the second underground rapid transit system in India, after the Kolkata Metro, when the Vishwa Vidyalaya--Kashmere Gate section of the Yellow Line opened on 20 December 2004 . The first phase of the project was eventually completed in 2006, on budget and almost three years ahead of schedule, an achievement described by Business Week as "nothing short of a miracle". </P> <P> On 19 October 2008, a launching gantry and a part of the overhead Blue Line extension under construction in Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi, collapsed and fell on passing vehicles underneath . Workers were using a crane to lift a 400 - tonne concrete span of the bridge when the gantry collapsed along with a 34 - metre - long (112 ft) span of the bridge on top of a Blueline bus, killing the driver and a labourer . </P>

When was the first metro train started in delhi