Kochi Corporation has urged Union Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna to pay heed to the overwhelming demand from the public to hand over the implementation of the Kochi metro rail project to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
Meeting sought
Mayor Tony Chammany met Mr. Krishna, who is also DMRC’s chairman, and handed over a letter asking him to convene a director board meeting of the DMRC to speed up the handing over of the project’s works to the agency.
EDRAAC protest
The Ernakulam District Residents’ Associations’ Apex Council (EDRAAC) said it is opposed to the execution of the Kochi metro sans DMRC and its Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan.
Background manoeuvres by a few senior civil servants, a section of the ruling-front politicians, and influential traders to keep the two away from the project are getting exposed as days pass by, said S. Ajith Kumar, general secretary of EDRAAC.
People are fed up with cost escalation due to the delay in implementing projects.
It is here that the involvement of DMRC, which has a proven track record of completing projects on time and without cost escalation, is important, he said.
