The refusal by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to share the detailed project report (DPR) of Namma Metro’s phase II is due to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) claiming exemption from sharing DPRs under section 8 (1) D and E of the RTI Act 2005, an RTI application has revealed.
“Even BMRCL has earlier shared the DPR for Phase 1, what is the problem with sharing Phase II reports?,” said Sanjeev V. Dyamanavvar of public advocacy group Praja RAAG, who filed the RTI.
Now, Mr. Dyamanavvar is planning to write to the Union Ministry of Urban Development in order to get the DPR copy released.
An appeal against the RTI reply has also not been ruled out.
In the reply provided by BMRCL, a table titled ‘List of items/documents which the DMRC (as Public Authority) is NOT obliged to disclose under the provisions of RTI Act 2005’ has been attached along with a copy of a letter written by E. Sreedharan, the then Managing Director of DMRC in 2011 in which he states that “the technical solutions recommended herein are the sole property of DMRC. These cannot be copied or made use of by any other agency or person except for the sole use of Bangalore city, without the consent of DMRC.”
The table, which contains 72 items which the DMRC will not disclose, however claims exemptions under sections which clearly state that the information could be made public in the ‘larger public interest’ and it is this exemption which RTI applicants now seek to follow up on.
Interestingly DPRs prepared by the DMRC for Kochi, Pune, Lucknow, Nagpur and Jaipur have been shared online according to Mr. Dyamanavvar.
The DPR of Phase II of Namma Metro is important as the location of several stations has been criticised in public with a massive movement against the shifting of the Cantonment Metro station currently under way.
