BENGALURU: Namma Metro will soon have a new person at the helm as current Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola is all set to take charge as Chairman and Managing Director of national carrier Air India. The move out of Karnataka, which was on the cards for sometime now, comes at a time when the Union government is looking to strategically divest a large part of its stake in the airlines. His successor is yet to be announced by the government.
Kharola, who took charge of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) in August 2013, oversaw the completion of Phase I and the launch of construction of Phase II. When he took over from N Sivasailam, the metro project had just one stretch open -- between Baiyappanahalli and MG Road. There was already a delay of around three years for the completion of Phase I. The entire Phase I was finally completed in June this year.
During his time at BMRCL, work also started on the 72-km Phase II network and following demands from industry, the BMRCL also started work on a new line along the Outer Ring Road connecting Silk Board Junction with KR Puram. Decisions were also made on the route to connect the airport for which work would begin ahead of Phase III. BMRCL also came up with an innovative financing method and announced tie-ups with private industry for station development.
His term, however, has not been without its fair share of controversies. Kharola had to repeatedly defend delays in the project as the underground tunnelling for Phase I took much longer than had been planned. Once this hurdle was cleared, Kharola also faced criticism from several groups over the replacement of a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, which had been moved from the Vidhana Soudha for Metro construction.
In 2016, a massive drive against Hindi imposition in the state also led to severe criticism of Namma Metro as well as Kharola when the BMRCL refused to remove Hindi signs from Metro stations unless clear instructions were issued for it. Incidentally, the officer, who is from the Karnataka cadre, managed to pacify the Kannada Development Authority by presenting the BMRCL’s viewpoint in fluent Kannada when the KDA inspected his offices. However, fringe groups chose to go ahead and file a police complaint against him in the matter as well.
His image among BMRCL employees is also fragmented. While some officers respect his enthusiasm for the project and talk about how he would visit the Kempegowda Interchange Station at 6 am to ensure timely completion, others term him “highhandedness and unapproachable.” This was highlighted when employees of BMRCL went on a strike recently. Weeks after the strike, Union members complained that he was not willing to meet them.
In the past few months, a large citizens’ movement against Cantonment Metro Station had forced the BMRCL to go for a resurvey. Now, government has to take a call in this regard.
Tough job at hand for him as new CMD of Air India
BENGALURU: A senior civil aviation ministry official said Kharola is expected to minimise the losses of the airline until it gets a buyer.
Kharola has a tough job at hand, that of changing the fortunes of a loss -making public transport undertaking. But he has a good track record , which includes revival of BMTC and introducing Bengaluru Metro, a task which was not easy considering the rocky terrain of the city.
A PhD in Public Transport Systems from IIT-Delhi , it was under Kharola that the first phase of Metro was completed. For the second phase too, Kharola had set an ambitious target to connect Electronics City and Whitefield by 2020. This plan is expected to triple the ridership to over 1.5 million a day.
Though Kharola will be new to the corridors of Delhi, he has a solid administrative background. In 2015, Kharola was given additional charge of the post of additional chief secretary to tourism department, government of Karnataka. Kharola, a 1985-batch IAS officer, held the post of the chairman of Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation in 2013. He was on Central deputation between 2001 and 2009 and then he held the post of Principal Secretary to BJP Chief Minister (Jagadish Shettar).