Metro status for Kochi city, a pre-condition for DMRC

For those who find it

difficult to differentiate between Metro rail and Metro area, both for Kochi, there

may soon be a solution chugging up the tracks.One critical clause in the proposed agreement

between the Kochi Metro Rail Company Ltd (KMRL) and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

(DMRC) stipulates that it is the prime responsibility of the state and KMRL to ensure

that Kochi is declared a Metropolitan Area.The critical clause - 5 (O) in the

final draft agreement - is specific on the directive to KMRL for gaining Metro

Area status for Kochi city, but assures that DMRC will obtain the requisite

approvals.“Through recent amendments carried out

in the (a) Metro Railway (Construction of Works) Act, 1978 and (b) Metro

Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, powers have been conferred upon

the Central Government to extend these two Acts to Metropolitan Areas as

defined in the Article 243- P(c) of the Constitution of India.

KMRL shall ensure that Kochi city is

declared a Metropolitan Area and thereafter approach the Central Government to

extend these two Acts to Kochi Metropolitan Area. DMRC shall obtain the requisite

approvals,” it says.Clearly, Kochi being anointed a metro

city would help DMRC no end by enabling it to invoke legal provisions laid down

under two Central Acts.

The Acts have sufficient legal teeth to

cover various aspects of the project on a long-term basis, including maintenance,

operations and nomination of members to the vital fare fixation committee.It is no secret that the state government

has approached the Centre to have Metro Area status granted to Kochi.Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is on

record saying that moves are on for clinching the Metro status for Kochi.

“But the state has to go a long way to achieve

it. Only preliminary discussions have been

held,” he had said, striking a cautious note.

However, N Venugopal, Chairman, Greater

Cochin Development Authority, has a different take on the matter: “DMRC’s

project is confined to just 24 km.

The GCDA has prepared a draft report on

a Metro Development Authority covering a vast area of the whole district.DMRC might have incorporated the demand

but the state government and GCDA were thinking on those lines for quite some

time.” While the business community has reason to cheer if Kochi gets elevated as a Metro

city, not everyone is convinced about the manner in which the goal is being pursued.

C J George, MD, Geojit BNP Paribas,

said, “Just because everybody wanted E Sreedharan at the helm, the stakes of a

state cannot be diluted. Unless there is a clear agreement

between the state and DMRC, what will happen if Sreedharan is not in the

picture.

 The policy makers seem to have

forgotten this and the ultimate sufferer would be the state."