The U.P. Cabinet in December, 2014 gave its permission for conducting a fesibility study and preparing a detailed project report for running metros in four cities. Which city amongst the following is not included amongst these four?

The correct answer is D) Allahabad. The December 2014 Cabinet decision covered Agra, Kanpur, Meerut and Varanasi, so Agra (A), Varanasi (B) and Meerut (C) are all part of the four. Allahabad was not in that list.

The decision was a go-ahead for a feasibility study and a Detailed Project Report (DPR), not for construction. A DPR is the technical and financial document that the state and the Centre examine before a metro gets approval under the Metro Rail Act, 2002. Lucknow was already moving ahead on its own metro, which is why it is absent from the list of four.

Connect this to the syllabus through urban transport and the National Urban Transport Policy (2006). For Mains, the question is whether metros suit Tier-II cities, given cost, ridership and land-use planning, and where bus rapid transit may be the better choice.

Trap: aspirants mix up the four cities with the list of Tier-I cities or with the broader list of proposed metros. Remember that the question asks about the Cabinet decision of December 2014 only, and the list of metro proposals has changed since.