The Bihar government is ready to lock horns with New Delhi over the Patna Metro railway project. Things have come to such a pass that the state is mulling starting the project without even getting Delhi's nod.

The state government on Monday said it has already arranged the funds needed to execute the project.

"If the approval from the central government for the Patna Metro project does not come within three months, we will start the project on our own," state urban development minister Maheshwar Hazari told The Telegraph.

"We are waiting for the Centre's approval since March 2016. During all these months, I met Union minister of urban development and housing Venkaiah Naidu several times, requesting him to give the requisite nod for the Metro project to the state considering the urgency of the matter. When I had met Naidu the last time on February 21 this year, he had said the delay had been caused by procedural reasons. However, we are clueless what those reasons are," Hazari said.

"If the Centre does not give its approval within three months, we will start the work as we have already arranged the funds needed for the project," he reiterated. "Initially, it was decided that the Bihar government will invest Rs 6,544 crore, take equity loan of Rs 7,812 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), and the Centre will provide the rest. However, with Delhi dilly-dallying over the project, we are thinking of bearing the entire cost of the project with loans from foreign agencies including Jica."

Hazari accused the Centre of meting out step-motherly treatment to Bihar, and claimed all relevant papers had been submitted to New Delhi.

"In my last meeting with Naidu, we had even deputed two of our officials at the Centre to be in regular touch with the ministry concerned to expedite the process of Delhi's approval. However, the situation remains more or less the same. I hope better sense will prevail upon the ministry and the project gets the nod, failing which we go on our own," Hazari added.

Patna was supposed to be the seventh Indian city to get the Metro after Calcutta, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jaipur and Chennai. Work on the Patna Metro project started in 2011 with the approval of the Planning Commission of India. But with the trial run of the Metro in Lucknow last year and the Nagpur Metro project, which is also under construction, supposed to be ready in 2017, Patna now lags behind.

The Union urban development ministry has decided to undertake third-party assessments for every new Metro project. In all likelihood, this decision will further delay the Centre's nod to the Patna Metro project.

An official of the urban development department said: "States would have to ensure that all alternate modes of mass rapid transport system have been explored under the Comprehensive Mobility Plan of the city before proposing the project. The Centre has discussed all these points with the states under its new Metro policy."

The Patna Metro project is scheduled to be completed by 2021 at an estimated cost of Rs 16,960 crore - if the work starts this year. The proposed Metro network will have 25 stations and will run from Danapur Cantonment to the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) on the Patna-Gaya road.