KOCHI: The much-touted Metro ride of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday exposed the complete failure of Kochi Metro Rail Limited authorities in coordinating the event as the chief minister returned without inaugurating the Metro solar energy project at Aluva station. As the Aluva MLA Anwar Sadath informed Mr. Pinarayi that he had not been told or invited for the function, Mr. Vijayan expressed his unhappiness over creating unnecessary controversy and cancelled the inaugural function. Mr Anwar Sadath also gave a formal complaint to the chief minister in this regard.
Mr Vijayan asked the KMRL authorities why the MLAs and municipal chiefs of the areas had not been invited. As per protocol, if the chief minister attends a function, the local MLA has to be invited. Meanwhile, the KMRL authorities justified their decision to avoid the people’s representatives from the function. “The chief minister’s Metro ride and the inauguration of the solar project at Aluva station were not organised as a formal function. There were no speeches or other programmes, but just a switching-on of the solar system. And it is mandatory to conduct a ride by the chief minister as part of the security inspection before the inaugural function by the prime minister,” according to KMRL MD Elias George.
It was decided to drop the inaugural function after the UDF activists blocked the national highway. A tense situation was created when the police tried to arrest the protestors. The chief minister was given a ticket at the Palarivattom station and he took a walk through the station complex before boarding the train to Aluva. Mr Vijayan also had a feel of the driver’s cabin where the operator explained to him its basic functions. He was accompanied by Mr Elias George, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials and CPM district secretary P. Rajeev.
After completing his ride at the Aluva station, the chief minister chose not to talk to the media on the controversies. At the same time, DMRC officials also expressed unhappiness over the poor coordination of the event. DMRC sources said that the KMRL had given them a cold shoulder by inviting only a select few. Only three officials of the DMRC were present. Though Mr E. Sredharan was invited, he was at Thrissur to attend a personal function. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Kochi Metro on June 17.
