Title - Kochi metro: State unhappy with conditions of centre

Thiruvananthapuram: The state on Sunday made it clear that all conditions set by the central government cannot be fulfilled in the Kochi metro rail project. The govt also indicated that as the state needs more time to take a final decision, restructuring of the director board is getting delayed.

The state is not happy with the condition that center's permission is mandatory to change the state-appointed managing director. The state government is firm on not acceding to that condition at any cost. The state is also against the second condition on entrusting the MD with other responsibilities. The government claims it is the state government which should decide the responsibilities of the MD.

The state is also not in favour of holding the state govt responsible if the project cost rises. In Bangalore and Chennai metros, the state government needs to take only 50 % of extra cost and rest is met by central government.

The other day the central government flayed the state government for its delay in restructuring the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) company. The Central Urban Development Ministry secretary Dr Sudheerkrishna said it is the state government which has to take a decision on restructuring the company. At the same time DMRC sources told Mathrubhumi that the state government has not taken any action to sign the MoU for DMRC to take up the construction. With this it is somewhat sure that the construction will be delayed further.

With criticism from urban development ministry and DMRC, it's clear the state government failed in timely execution of everything.

The director board of the Kochi metro will comprise representatives from both state and central government, as the project would be implemented with share participation from the central government. The central urban development secretary would be the chairman of the board and MD would be a representative of the state government. Though one and half months have passed since the central government waved the green signal for the project, the state government had not taken any step to restructure the director board.

The central government has already decided its representatives apart from the urban development secretary. Additional secretary of minister SK Lohya, DMRC constructions section director Jithendra Thyagi, director of Metro Rolling Stock section in Bangalore DD Ahuja, railway board member AK Gupta will represent the centre.

But the state government has not decided any of its representatives. Though CM recently stated that decision would be taken soon, no steps have been taken. The government has not signed the draft prepared buy DMRC and the same situation is continuing now. DMRC sources also said there is no need for restructuring to sign the draft and the government had not clarified the cause for delay.