Chennai: Mystery shrouded the launch of the city’s maiden metro train service for the third day on Saturday. Amid reports of it happening on Sunday or Monday, sources in Fort St George indicated that the Chief Minister’s office has yet to make a decision on it. Media reports initially said that Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa would inaugurate the Rs 14,600 crore project on Sunday or at 12 noon on Monday. Meanwhile, information trickling in from the secretariat suggested that the function might be scheduled for Wednesday, July 1.
The seven stations between Koyambedu and Alandur on the 10km-elevated corridor clearly indicated the possibility of the launch happening anytime within a week as they were teeming with activity during the last few days. Metro employees were decorating the trains and station interiors. As if that were not enough, even the top brass of CMRL (Chennai Metro Rail Limited) were visiting and inspecting the stations as late as 10pm on Saturday.
Sources in Fort St George who ruled out of the possibility of the launch happening on Sunday, said the Chief Minister’s office has yet to give the final word on the inauguration. In the interim, the stations have been given a thorough scrub and even the Koyambedu grade separator on the foot of which the CMRL headquarters is located has been given a fresh coat of black and white paint, hopefully, to receive the CM for the humble opening.
Though it was widely perceived that the CM would inaugurate the project via videoconferencing mode, sources did not dismiss the possibility of Jayalalithaa visiting Alandur station, which is closer to her Poes Garden residence for the launch of the state’s first metro rail project started in 2009. However, metro officials had no clue whatsoever about the launch till late Saturday as the date and timing was kept confidential at the CMO level. Originally, the Koyambedu-Alandur elevated corridor should have been launched in October 2014, but it overshot the deadline due to delay in project execution.
