The increase in vehicle population, competition for parking space and slow movement of vehicles sometimes resulting in a two-hour journey from one end of the city to another necessitated a mass transit project for the city.
But the State Government, it appears, had not taken any steps in this direction, said the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Report
In a release, the party’s State Youth Wing secretary V. Eswaran said that though the Centre provided assistance for preparing a detailed report for a mass transit project and partial assistance for implementing the project, the State Government had not taken up the initiative.
But cities that ranked below Coimbatore in the list of 19 eligible cities for metro rail project and those that were not in the list had progress in implementing the project, he said in reference to Kochi. Coimbatore was 16{+t}{+h}on the list and Kochi 17{+t}{+h}. The Kerala city’s population was almost half of Coimbatore and area less than half.
Bhopal, Pune, Ludhiana and a few other cities also progressed fast in this aspect as the respective State Governments had forwarded the proposal to the Centre.
Therefore, in the interest of the city, the State Government should prepare the detailed project report and take steps to have the work started at the earliest.
