Centre made 'unilateral changes' in Metro Ph-IV, says AAP govt; Centre rejects charge

In what could escalate the tussle between the AAP dispensation and the Centre over DMRC's Phase-IV, the Delhi government Tuesday alleged that the Union government has made some "unilateral changes" in the project, without communicating any reasons.In a statement, the Delhi transport department said, "If the Government of India was of the opinion that only three 'Priority Corridors' were required to be considered in the first stage, it could have very well communicated to the Delhi government and in that case, the Delhi cabinet could also have approved only these three corridors."In early March, three of the six proposed corridors, got the Union cabinet nod. These are: Mukundpur-Maujpur (12.54 km), Janakpuri West-R K Ashram (28.92 km) and Tughlakabad-Aerocity (20.20 km)."The Delhi government had approved all the six corridors proposed by the Delhi Metro in Phase-IV... However, the Government of India thereafter approved only three corridors out of the six approved by the Delhi Cabinet."Once the project report has been approved by the Delhi government, the Government of India should not have unilaterally made any changes. A clear stand of the Delhi government is that the Government of India should also have approved all the six Corridors of Delhi Metro Phase-IV," the statement said.These kind of "unilateral changes" by the Centre without either taking the Delhi government into confidence or even "without communicating any reasons for its change in stand, is not comprehensible", it said.Secondly, the component-wise cost has also been "revised" by the Centre "unilaterally" without assigning any reasons or justification, the Delhi government alleged in the statement."Equity component of the Delhi government has been increased from 8.08 per cent to 16.36 per cent," it claimed."Similarly, the entire amount towards land acquisition has been apportioned to the Delhi government whereas in the earlier three phases, it was apportioned between Government of India and the Delhi government equally," it said.Meanwhile, amid a report that Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot had directed his department to tell the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) not to start work on Ph-IV until it got further clarifications on the project's funding, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said, the Delhi government's allegation that their share of expenditure for the three corridors approved by the Centre is "more than its earlier proposal is baseless, false and derived on false assumptions"."It appears to be another propaganda of the Delhi government to stall the Ph-IV project and deprive the people of Delhi from its benefits," it alleged in a statement."So far, no letter has been received from Delhi government on this matter. It has come to the notice only from the press reports that Delhi government has asked Delhi Metro to stop the work till the matter is cleared," the statement by the ministry said.The fact of the matter is that as per the proposal of three corridors submitted by DMRC in January 2018 (the cost of which was proportionate to the cost of the six corridors approved by Delhi Cabinet earlier) the total liability of city government was Rs 8,872 cr whereas, as per the cost approved by the Centre in March, the total liability of Delhi government has come down by more than Rs 1,000 cr to Rs 7,844 crores, the HUA ministry claimed.The Delhi government in its statement also alleged that its share in the project cost has also been "increased substantially" as compared to that approved by the Delhi cabinet."Contribution of Delhi government towards three 'Priority Corridors' (including additional 244 cars) has been increased from 20.77 per cent to 31.44 per cent. The above unilateral changes are not only against the federal system of government but also substantially increase the financial burden of the Delhi government, therefore while releasing the amount of Rs 200 crore for the Metro Ph-IV, the above mentioned concerns have been conveyed to the DMRC," the Delhi government's statement said.The Delhi Metro had last year written to the city government and the Centre seeking nod to begin work on the three 'priority corridors' which were approved in March by the Union Cabinet under the Phase-IV project, DMRC sources had earlier said.The HUA ministry also alleged that the Delhi government has been "following a similar propaganda to stonewall the Delhi-Meerut RRTS (Regional Rapid Transit System) project also"."The delay of four years by Delhi government in providing approval for Ph-IV has escalated the cost of the project by about Rs 5000 cr. Similarly, the delay in approving the Delhi-Meerut RRTS projects by two years has led to a cost increase of Rs 3,100 cr, the HUA ministry claimed in the statement.The funding pattern of Delhi Ph-IV project approved by Centre is similar to the metro projects of Kanpur, Ahmedabad-Phase2, Patna, Agra, Surat, etc, and based on the Metro Rail Policy 2017, it said.

Centre made 'unilateral changes' in Metro Ph-IV, says AAP govt; Centre rejects charge

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