ANOTHER STOP FOR METRO: Babus plan a junket

ANOTHER STOP FOR METRO: Babus plan a junket
The Times of India

Bangalore: Even as Bangalore is getting rather restive about the lull on the Bangalore Metro Rail project, a delegation of bureaucrats led by chief secretary B K Das plans to embark on a three-nation junket to study “urban mass transportation system”. What has raised the eyebrows is the timing of the “study tour” and its stated purpose.
The chief secretary, who’ll be in the vanguard during the 10-day tour of China, Malaysia and Thailand starting September 17, is set to retire on September 30. All leading to speculation whether his visit will be of any utility at all?
The heavy-duty delegation includes principal secretary (urban development) Lakshmi Venkatachalam, BMP commissioner K Jairaj and secretary to the chief minister, Rakesh Singh. The agenda is to “study” both Metro and Mono rail systems in those countries. In an attempt to lend the trip an “official touch”, some of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) officials — MD V Madhu, executive director (finance) Sandeep Dash and BMRC adviser Sudhir Chandra — are also joining the tour party. K Jairaj has been roped in as he’s a member on the BMRC board.
Sources told The Times of India that the irony in the exercise can’t be lost as the BMRC is yet to acquire land for the project, while the team of bureaucrats is all set to make the trip. If ever there was a need to study a system, there’s no better project than the Delhi Metro Rail to learn and replicate it in Bangalore.
The tour, funded by the BMRC, a joint venture company along with the Government of India, has been cleared by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy. The departure of the team will have to wait for a GO to be issued and the board has to approve the trip, sources said.
The junket will leave the exchequer poorer by a neat Rs 10 lakh but the Karnataka government is not authorised to direct the BMRC to spend the money on such a trip. Sources said: “The tour plan should ideally have to go to the BMRC Board for approval.’’
QUESTIONS GALORE
l Will the team really study urban transport systems in all the places they’re visiting — Shanghai, Chonqing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore? l Is chief secretary an expert on Metro Rail to lead the team?
l Any study visit should have been done much earlier.
l What is the use of this trip when the Metro projects in those countries have already been implemented and trains are running? l Does the team get to see and delve into the Metro design now?