Union Minister of State K.V. Thomas has said the decision to call for tender again to purchase rolling stock for Kochi Metro was taken to ensure transparency despite the delay it entails.
Though E. Sreedharan, the principal advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), continued to be the final word in the project he cannot expect his Delhi methods to work in Kerala, said Mr. Thomas at Nilapadu 2014, an election-related meet-the-press programme by the Ernakulam Press Club here on Monday.
He said: accepting the single tender would have attracted criticism. Certain procedures had to be followed in Kerala and the officials here were cautious; after all, they would be accountable when CAG dissects the project in the future.
Mr. Thomas ruled out any deliberate attempts to slow down the pace set by Mr. Sreedharan but admitted that the divergent working styles of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the Kochi Metro Rail Limited were creating some hold-ups. Despite the differences and delay caused by retendering, the project was cruising at much faster pace than any other project ever undertaken by the State.
When the shortcomings in the distribution of food grains in the State were spotlighted, Mr. Thomas, who is the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, attributed it to the non-implementation of Food Security Act in the State — which is the responsibility of the State government.
He said the State was being granted excess quantity of high quality rice and wheat, but distribution was the responsibility of the State government. Mr. Thomas, however, refused to go the whole hog in blaming the State government.
The Minister then panned to reports on food inflation, which he said were inflated. He said the food inflation was still in single digits contrary to allegations that it had touched double digit.
He said P. Rajeev MP’s allegations of him making bogus claims about revival package for FACT was borne out of ignorance. Mr. Thomas said the Rs. 990-crore package was likely to come before the Cabinet before the election but could not be announced since the model code of conduct was in force.
