KOCHI: Stressing the need for continuity and effective coordination, Kochi Metro Officers’ Association (KMOA) has urged the government to appoint a serving IAS officer with experience in infrastructure projects as the next managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL), as the agency takes on an expanding portfolio.
The association made the request in a letter to the chief minister as Loknath Behera’s tenure as MD concluded on August 30 and District Collector G Priyanka was given the temporary charge. It said that the KMRL was at a critical juncture with multiple metro and urban mobility projects under execution and planning, and rising public expectations across the state.
The move comes amid ongoing discussions over the appointment. Many names have been taking the rounds when the association said the post should not go to a retired IAS or IPS officer noting that those currently in power would deliver the best service.
Highlighting the role of IAS officers in leading KMRL since its inception, KMOA said their leadership and expertise of technocrats had helped establish the company as a major public infrastructure organisation.
It said the MD would need to maintain coordination with the Union and state governments, district administrations, government departments, local self-government institutions, national-international funding agencies and infrastructure bodies. Against this backdrop, it stressed the importance of appointing a serving IAS officer with extensive exposure to infrastructure projects.
KMOA said KMRL was originally constituted as a special purpose vehicle for the execution, operation and maintenance of the Kochi Metro project, but had subsequently evolved into the state’s nodal metro rail administration and an integrated urban mobility agency.
KMRL is currently operating and maintaining Phase I of Kochi Metro and executing Phase II. It is also implementing the Kochi Water Metro project, while undertaking planning and preparatory works for the Thiruvananthapuram Metro project, besides planning Phase III of Kochi Metro and Calicut Metro project.
The agency has also been entrusted with preparing detailed project reports for water metro systems in 20 cities across the country. It operates feeder transport services and implements transit-oriented development projects, including the Integrated Urban Regeneration and Water Transport System (IURWTS) in Kochi.
It said KMRL’s expanding responsibilities had transformed it from a conventional metro rail company into an integrated urban mobility agency, supported by a skilled workforce of engineers from multiple disciplines.
Who’s in the race?
M Beena, who is currently on central deputation and expected to return to the state by October, is learnt to be the frontrunner for the KMRL MD post, sources said. Retired IPS officers Nitin Agarwal and K Padmakumar and IAS officer Jiji Thomson are among the other names doing the rounds. Name of retired IAS officer Biju Prabhakar had also emerged earlier, but he has ruled himself out, saying he had informed the government about his decision not to take up any positions
