Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. (File)Two months after the Delhi government cleared six corridors as part of Delhi Metro’s Phase IV expansion, on the condition that operational losses will be shared equally, the Centre Thursday approved three of them. The approved corridors are Aerocity-Tughlakabad (20.2 km), R K Ashram-Janakpuri West (28.9 km) and Maujpur-Mukundpur (12.5 km). These were identified as “priority” by the DMRC.
Stuck since 2014, the project was emblematic of the AAP-BJP feud, with the Delhi government unwilling to pledge outright financial commitments, and the Centre accusing the AAP of stalling the city’s development “out of a phobia to take decisions”.
Thursday was no exception, with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal terming the Centre’s decision to only clear three out of six corridors as “disappointing”.
During a press briefing, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also accused the AAP of “delaying” the project by raising “non-issues”.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is a special purpose vehicle in which the Delhi government and the Centre hold equal equity.
The Delhi government has kept aside Rs 500 crore for Phase IV in its 2019-20 Budget. In December, clearing all the six corridors on its part, it had pledged Rs 9,707 crore over five years for the project, on the condition that operational losses, if any, will be shared equally with the Centre.
The Centre had claimed that the condition went against the prevailing Metro Rail Policy, 2017. Asked whether the Centre accepts the condition Thursday, Puri said: “We will go ahead.”
Incidentally, the DMRC had already conveyed to the Delhi government that it does not foresee any operating losses in Phase IV. “Metro has not registered operational losses so far and is not likely to do so in all probability,” a senior Union government official said.
Puri said the project had become victim of the AAP’s “phobia and reluctance to take decisions”.“Sometimes they spoke about in-principle approval, sometimes they put new conditions that they won’t bear losses. They are raising non-issues… I want to put all that aside, I want to celebrate the happy news,” Puri said.
Kejriwal tweeted: “People of Delhi are very disappointed that Centre has decided to approve only three of the six corridors. Why is Modi government… against the people of Delhi… (and) creating obstacles in every project? There should be no politics with Delhi’s development. Delhi is nation’s capital.”
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot added: “No reasons have been given as to why all six corridors could not be approved. I hope that the Union Cabinet would approve the remaining three corridors as well at an early date.”
