Uttar Pradesh government today approved eight km route of Lucknow Metro Rail project’s first phase of North-South corridor for starting work.

The approval was made in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The route will be from Transport Nagar to Charbagh railway station on which work would be started with finance from state government agencies with condition that if in any case the Centre did not finance it, the state government would bear its entire expenditure, Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan told reporters here.

The deadline for completion of the work is December 2016.