THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has released an open letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, demanding his earnest efforts to bring back ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan and the DMRC and entrust the job of constructing Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode light metros under his captaincy itself.
Reiterating that Sreedharan and the DMRC had scripted history by completing the first phase of Kochi metro spanning 13 km from Palarivattom to Aluva in just 45 months time, which was a record of sorts in comparison with time taken for even smaller works undertaken by the firm itself in other metros, Ramesh said that only the DMRC has the technical know-how and expertise in the country at present to execute works on the Light Metro rail.
“The argument that works on the Light Metro can be taken forward with the involvement of Kochi Metro Rail Corporation is impractical. Sreedharan and the DMRC had announced their withdrawal from the Light Metro projects out of sheer desperateness, after losing lakhs of rupees as office establishment charges and waiting for many months for a word or any pro-active moves from the state government,” he noted.
“There are reports that plans are afoot to float global competitive tenders after the exit of the DMRC.
“But one should not forget the phenomenon of kickbacks and commission with it,” the letter says, in an apparent reference to the charge of opening the gates for corruption and an atmosphere vitiated by agitations bringing the projects to a standstill.