Cabinet committee skips Metro, loan hangs fire

New BMRC chief takes over today
Cabinet committee skips Metro, loan hangs fire
Deccan Herald

The much-expected Bangalore Metro issue did not come up for discussion before the Union Cabinet which held its meeting here on Thursday.

The much-expected Bangalore Metro issue did not come up for discussion before the Union Cabinet which held its meeting here on Thursday.

The Cabinet was expected to consider the recommendations of a Group of Ministers (GOM) which had left to the state governments to take decision on the type of gauge their cities need — whether broadgauge or standardgauge - and the legal cover. On the safety aspect, GOM decided that Metro safety would be decided by the Commissioner of Railway Safety.

Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy told Deccan Herald after the cabinet meeting that the GOM decisions did not come up before cabinet but hoped that it may be taken up in the next meeting. As for the specific issue of final clearance of Bangalore Metro, he said it had to be decided by the Cabinet committee on economic affairs.

The issue will go to the CCEA only after the cabinet approves the GOM decisions, he added. Perhaps because of this, the CCEA did not touch upon the Bangalore Metro issue during its meeting on Thursday.

This has left the issue of the Bangalore Metro being eligible for the loan from the Japanese Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) hanging fire. The JBIC has promised to advance Rs 1800 crore soft loan to the project but official sources say for this CCEA has to approve the project within March 31. Mr Reddy, however, does not think so as he said he was given to understand that it won’t be much difficult to get the JBIC loan validity extended.

Meanwhile, in Bangalore BMRC sources said the issues will be dealt with the newly-appointed BMRC Managing Director V Madhu, who will be assuming office on Friday.

According to them, he is expected to go to New Delhi on Monday to sort out the matter in New Delhi. “However, Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy has assured us that the delay in getting JBIC clearance will be taken care of,” they added.