Minister refuted the claims of Reliance Infrastructure of cost escalation due to delays caused by the State government
Mumbai : With an aim to put an end to the ongoing battle over deciding the fare for the city’s only Metro corridor, the State government has requested the Union Ministry of Urban Development to exclude the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor from the Metro Railway (Amended) Act, 2009. A delegation led by Ranjit Patil, minister of state for urban development, has already met M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Urban Development, and made the request.
“We have met the Union Minister and requested him that Mumbai Metro be denotified from the Metro Act. Time and again, through our correspondence to the MoUD, we have said that the State government is already into agreement with Reliance Infrastructure under the Tramway Act, so if MoUD wants to execute Metro Act they can go ahead, but not with retrospective effect. And if they want to do as retrospective effect, MoUD should denotify Metro-I and Hyderabad Metro from it,” said Patil.
The retrospective application of the Metro Railway (Amended) Act, 2009 to the city metro which has been constructed under a Public-Private-Partnership model has created a row on which authority would decide the fares. According to the concession agreement signed between the State government and Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium, under the Indian Tramways Act, 1886, State government had decided the fare structure.
Subsequently, in 2009 with the application of the amended Metro Act to metro projects across the country, Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd was granted the status of Metro Railway Administrator. “We were into agreement with Reliance on the basis of Tramways Act. According to the agreement, the fare fixation is in the power of State government that still stands, but with the advent of this Metro Act in 2009. The amended act has given a privilege to Reliance and given them the power to decide fares,” Patil lamented.
Patil also refuted the claims of Reliance Infrastructure of cost escalation of Rs 1,975 crore due to delays caused by the State government and hence want the recommended fare hike to recover cost. “They (Reliance Infra) are saying that cost has gone up due to our delay. That is not true. We want a detailed CAG audit for the project to ascertain the facts of the matter,” he said.
Patil added that he would review the request and will have a follow-up meeting with the Union Minister in the coming days. “But in the meantime, we have taken the legal course of action and filed a writ petition,” the minister added.
Swapnil Rawal
