RailEnquiry

Union Minister for Science and Technology S. Jaipal Reddy , who was shunted out of the high profile petroleum ministry for allegedly rubbing Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani the wrong way, faces yet another humiliation, this time from the Congress ruled Andhra Pradesh government headed by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.Though authorities printed his name in the official invitation card without taking his consent, Jaipal did not get a formal invitation from the chief minister for the launch of the prestigious Hyderabad Metro Rail Project on Sunday. According to sources close to the union minister, it was only after a messenger from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) that he had come to know about the function.Peeved at the way he was ill-treated by the chief minister, Jaipal preferred to boycott the official function, though he was very much available in Hyderabad, raising many eyebrows in the Congress circles.While Jaipal could not be reached for reaction, an official from his office told Mail Today that the union minister was taken by surprise when he was handed over the invitation card with his name printed on it as one of the invitees for the launch of Hyderabad Metro Rail works at Uppal."It is nothing but humiliation for a senior Congress leader and union cabinet minister to get the invitation for the project in the most discourteous manner," he said.

Quoting Jaipal, the official said, the union minister felt that the Andhra government should have called him up at least on Sunday morning and formally invited him to the function.

"What is worse, the officials did not follow the protocol, as Jaipal is the only cabinet minister in the Centre hailing from Ranga Reddy district, where the function was held. His photograph was not published in the advertisement released by the state government in the newspapers on the launch of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project," the official said.

Sources said Jaipal Reddy had expressed serious displeasure over the way the chief minister had ignored him despite the fact that it was during his tenure as the minister for urban development that the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project was approved by the Planning Commission and he had played a key role in bringing the project.

"While I was invited by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka during the launch of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project, it is unfortunate that I did not get any formal invitation from the Congress government in my home state and in my own Telangana region," Jaipal is said to have told his associates in the party.

In fact, the works on Rs.14,132-crore Hyderabad Metro Rail Project commenced in April 2012 and have been going on at a brisk pace since then, the chief minister chose to formally launch the project works on Sunday on the occasion of the completion of his two-year tenure in office as part of his image-building exercise.

Earlier, the project was supposed to be formally launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in October, but it could not take place due to his busy schedule.

According to sources, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project was in fact a Central project and the Union Ministry of Urban Development had offered to release Viability Gap Funding of Rs.4,800 crore for the project. In 2007, the concession for the project was awarded to Maytas Consortium on public-private project (PPP) mode, but the agreement lapsed in 2009 when Maytas could not achieve financial closure due to Satyam scam and financial meltdown.

In September 2009, the Centre decided that all metro rail projects be taken up only as a central sector projects. Accordingly in 2010, when the state government processed the draft concession agreement for approval of the Centre, the Planning Commission was of the view that the project would have to be processed by the Centre and not the state government as a state sector project.

After taking the advice from law ministry, it was proposed to be taken up as the central sector project empowering the Ministry of Urban Development to sign the MoU with the contractor.

"However, it was Jaipal Reddy, who was the then urban development minister who called a meeting on June 28, 2010, and decided that the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project be treated as an ongoing project and hence, could be allowed as a state project. It was due to his efforts that the state government could go ahead with signing agreement with L&T in 2010. It is unfortunate that the Congress government in the state chose to ignore Jaipal's contribution to the project and humiliate him by not extending formal invitation to him for the project launch," the official said.

Sources in the CMO, however, sought to play down the entire controversy saying Jaipal Reddy was informed of the programme well in advance and the invitation was sent to him through proper channel. "The chief minister could not speak to Jaipal personally because he had just returned from Tirupati after attending an official programme. It all happened due to communication gap," a CMO official said.