he Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is seriously considering winding up its office in the State capital as it has not been assigned any role for Light Metro proposed for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
The DMRC is thinking of winding up its establishment at Pettah here as the Cabinet just forwarded the detailed project report submitted on October 8 to the Centre without giving administrative sanction to the Rs.6,728-crore Mission 676 project and taking a decision on the funding pattern.
DMRC Principal Adviser E. Sreedharan hinted to The Hindu on July 31 that getting 20 per cent financial assistance (Rs.1,278 crore) of the estimated cost from the Centre would be difficult. He had pointed out that the nod from the Centre would take time and that it took seven years for the Kochi Metro to get nod.
There is no point in retaining the office and over a dozen personnel, including a former top railway official, in the capital as there is uncertainty over the project, according to the DMRC. The DMRC office opened in Kozhikode will be retained as it is involved in preparatory works of a RoB as part of Light Metro.
A decision is likely after Mr. Sreedharan returns to the State after a foreign trip later this month.
In April this year, Mr. Sreedharan wrote to the Chief Minister hinting at the extreme step as ‘perceptible action’ was missing even six months after the board accepted the DPR on October 24. Things started moving after the indirect threat by the Metroman to withdraw from the project.
The DMRC office in Kozhikode will be retained as it is involved in preparatory works
