Dharam Singh on a joy ride

Dharam Singh on a joy ride

The Hindu

An all-party team, led by the Chief Minister, takes the metro in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Just two days after he had ruled out a review of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project, Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash, and around 60 elected representatives from the State, visited the Delhi Metro on Thursday.

The delegation included Janata Dal (S) State unit President N. Thippanna, general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party Ananth Kumar, Siddanagowda Patil of Communist Party of India, G.N. Nagaraj of Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Vattal Nagaraj of Kannada Chaluvali. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, and Ministers H.K. Patil and R.V. Deshpande, also accompanied the Chief Minister.

They travelled from Central Secretariat metro station up to Kashmere Gate and back. They were escorted by the Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, E. Sreedharan, and Director (Rolling Stock and Electrical) Satish Kumar, who explained to them the features, routes and future plans of Delhi Metro.

The visit of Mr. Dharam Singh, who expressed satisfaction at the Delhi Metro's success, assumes significance, as on Tuesday, he had firmly ruled out reconsidering the start of the project for which Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has already submitted the detailed project report. The metro rail system in Bangalore envisages two lines covering a total distance of 33 km.

Despite opposition to the project from president of Janata Dal (Secular) H.D. Deve Gowda, Mr. Dharam Singh had proclaimed that the proposed metro rail project will not be put on hold and will be started on November 1. However, Mr. Prakash insisted here on Thursday that several issues raised by Mr. Deve Gowda on the affordability of the project are yet to be sorted out.

Emphasising that contrary to certain media reports, Mr. Deve Gowda was not opposed to the metro rail, Mr. Prakash said the former Prime Minister only wanted to ensure that the project was affordable and viable.

Mr. Prakash, however, expressed confidence that the issues would be sorted out soon. He said that Mr. Dharam Singh would hold a discussion with Mr. Deve Gowda in this regard soon. Asked specifically if the work would be started on November 1, as proposed by Mr. Dharam Singh, Mr. Prakash said it was possible if the issues were sorted out by then.K.N. Shrivastava, Managing Director, Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd., emphasised the need for early clearance of the project. The cost of the project had gone up from Rs. 4,989 crores in May 2003 to Rs. 6,300 crores.

He said the Japan Bank for International Cooperation was expected to give final clearance for participating in the project in October. The bank had proposed to contribute 25 per cent of the project cost at a nominal interest rate of 1.3 per cent.

He also said that implementation of the demand to re-align the metro line so that it did not run through CMH Road would mean a fall of 15 per cent in passenger traffic, which would amount to a loss of Rs. 60 crores per year, apart from further delays.

Detailed project reports had been prepared based on the alignments proposed earlier. Any change in the alignments would mean preparation of such reports all afresh.