The AAP Wednesday came down heavily on the EPCA for proposing a "pick and choose" expansion of the Delhi Metro and alleged the Supreme Court-appointed pollution control body was acting like an "arm of the Central government".
The Aam Aadmi Party asked as to how the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority is willing to go with the Centre's proposal of beginning work on only three routes of the Metro Phase-IV, despite the city cabinet clearing all the six routes proposed.
"Need of the hour is to expand Delhi Metro and not allow its pick and choose expansion," AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said.
The AAP's criticism came as the EPCA Monday urged the Supreme Court (SC) to allow work to begin on the three 'priority corridors' so that the city is not "deprived of crucial public transport".
"In view of this whole episode, it appears that EPCA has become an arm of the Central government. The reputation that the chairman of the EPCA Bhure Lal Ji had earned in his lifetime, has come under threat due to this episode," AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj told a press conference.
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The EPCA, in its report filed in the SC, has said that the phase-IV is "critical as it will add another 104 km to the network" and "it is designed to join the current network and will densify it and make the system more viable and attractive to commuters."
It said that the approval for "103.94 km phase-IV of the Delhi metro has been held up since 2014, when the project was submitted to the Union government for its approval".
The report said: "There is a stalemate in the discussions between the Union government and the Delhi government on different financial aspects of the project."
Bhardwaj also wrote a letter to the EPCA chairman Wednesday and requested him to consider the matter again. "I sincerely hope that given the upright image Bhure Lal ji has, he will reconsider his view on this matter."
Bhardwaj said that an affordable Delhi Metro is the best mode of public transport and will reduce air pollution and road congestion in Delhi.
"Need of the hour is to expand Delhi Metro and not allow its pick and choose expansion Sir. Further, the EPCA report is silent on how the Central government unilaterally changed the conditions putting the onus of bearing operations losses of DMRC on Delhi government," he said.
"When it is a joint venture with the 50:50 partnership of both governments, is it fair that only Delhi government bear the losses?" he told reporters.
He urged the EPCA to continue functioning in a free, fair and unbiased manner so that the SC-appointed body doesn't look in "poor" light.
Addressing a press conference at the Aam Aadmi Party headquarters, Bharadwaj said that in the last few days, there has been a lot of correspondence between the Centre and the Delhi government regarding the Metro Phase-4.
"The Chairman of the EPCA Bhure Lal Ji, who is also known in connection with the ongoing sealing in Delhi, has been known to be a very good and strict official.
"But the manner in which the EPCA has sent its report to the Supreme Court, I have come to doubt this. On careful reading of the report submitted by EPCA, it becomes clear that the entire report is biased towards the BJP," he added.
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