KOCHI: The transport department has sought details of foreign trips undertaken by senior officials of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL), including its managing director, over the past five years.
In May, it wrote to Loknath Behera, whose tenure as KMRL MD ended last month, seeking an explanation for undertaking a visit to the United States in December 2024 without prior government approval. Behera had travelled to Washington, DC, to attend a meeting of the Metropolitan Railway Division.
In the letter, issued through an undersecretary, the department also sought the minutes of KMRL board meetings that ratified foreign travel. It also requested details of the total number of trips undertaken by KMRL staff and the MD over the past five years, along with related expenditure as recorded in the company’s internal or statutory audit reports.
The missive quizzed KMRL on whether it has a travel policy or protocol for official trips, and details, if so, of the percentage of its budget earmarked for domestic and foreign travel.
As per existing rules, government employees require prior permission for foreign travel, except for private visits undertaken at their own expense. Behera undertook the trip in violation of this rule, the letter pointed out.
However, KMRL authorities are yet to officially respond to the letter sent months backs, sources said.
The letter also sought an explanation from KMRL over what it termed as contradictions in the company’s statements on the comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) for Thiruvananthapuram.
According to the transport department, it had asked KMRL to revise the CMP three times earlier — in December, April and July. While KMRL had briefed the media that the CMP had been revised and submitted, the company stated in its reply that no changes were required in the CMP.
