THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid harsh criticism and apprehensions raised by the finance department, the meeting scheduled between metro man E Sreedharan and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday is going to be a make-or-break deal as far as the cities are concerned.
The finance department has asked government to break ties with DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd) and go for a global tender to select a turnkey consultant to execute the project.
The queries placed by the finance department have raised eyebrows as it guides the state government and the authorities back to square one.
“The finance department has got no technology knowhow to recommend to the government to go for metro rail instead of light metro. We still have no clue why the finance department is taking such a stand. Now they want the government to go for a global tender to select the turnkey consultant. They did not insist on this when Kochi Metrorail was in its inception. They gladly accepted that DMRC be roped in without such a procedure,” said the official.
However, Finance Minister K M Mani refuted the charges. In a release issued here on Monday, Mr Mani stated that the state needed E Sreedharan.
“All the allegations that are doing the rounds in the media are baseless and the state needs the expertise of E Sreedharan to set up light metros at Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram,” said Mr Mani in the release.
A senior official associated with the project said that a section of bureaucrats in the government system was playing dirty politics.
“They do not want any development to happen in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. All this is part of a big agenda and this project has remained on paper and discussions for long,” said the official. The department suggests that the government rethink light metro and go for metro rail.
