Slower metro rail chugs, faster flows money down the drain!

Slower metro rail chugs, faster flows money down the drain!
Deccan Herald
Minister Sindhia is allegedly always ‘unavailable’ when officials tried to contact him.

The Bangalore Metro project is yet to take off, but it is already costing Rs 50 lakh for each day’s delay. And who’s to blame for the delay? The government.

The government, on one hand, has been renewing its vows of improving the city’s infrastructure, but on the other, has been sitting comfortably on the file that is supposed to begin BMRTL’s land acquisition process.

What should have taken less than a week, is now taking over a month, with no explanations given. The BMRTL had asked KIADB to acquire land for its project in April this year. After BMRTL deposited the property cost of Rs 20 crore with the Board, the latter sent the preliminary notification letter to the Infrastructure department on June 24. Officials reveal that the files had been forwarded by the Infrastructure Secretary to Minister P G R Sindhia 20 days ago, but he is yet to sign on the dotted line. As per the rules, once the preliminary notification is issued on the properties to be acquired, the affected parties will be given two months to submit objections, after which the final notification will be issued. Only then will the land acquisition process begin.

“We have made several calls, even wrote a formal letter to the Minister requesting a meeting, but he was always ‘unavailable’. As per our designed schedule, we were to commence our land acquisition and construction work by June, independent of the developments in the Public Investment Board front. But now we are sitting idle, thanks to the Government’s non-cooperation,” said a senior official.

P G R Sindhia reacts

When contacted, Infrastructure Minister P G R Sindhia told Deccan Herald that the document requires complete scrutiny before granting approval. “There have been public protests against some aspects of the Bangalore Metro related to routes and land acquisition. There is a huge investment involved, I cannot treat it casually,” Sindhia said. He refused to set any time frame for clearance of preliminary notification.



DATES, DATES AND MORE DATES

*Date of letter of request from BMRTL to KIADB: April 12

*Board Meeting of KIADB: June 6

*Date of letter of KIADB to BMRTL to deposit the property cost: June 16

*Date of deposit of Rs 20 crore by BMRTL: June 18

*Date of letter of KIADB to Government: June 24

*Approval of the Government: Awaited