Reminding him that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) he heads had itself endorsed the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model for the Hyderabad Metro project while preparing a detailed project report (DPR), the Planning Commission has slammed E Sreedharan for now expressing reservations on the project and for not backing with “facts or evidence” his “suspicion” that this “might lead to a big political scam”. The panel has also pointed out that indirect subsidies enjoyed by the DMRC are in fact a huge burden on the government.

Sreedharan, in a letter to the Planning Commission on the Hyderabad Metro project, had not only questioned the sanctity of its BOT model but also warned that it would lead to a scam of sorts. “Apart from the fact that this might lead to a big political scandal sometime later, it is apparent that the BOT operator has a hidden agenda which appears to be to extend the metro work to large tracts of his private land holdings so as to reap a windfall profit 4-5 times the land price,” Sreedharan stated in the letter.

Countering this in a hard-hitting reply, the Commission said the charge that the Hyderabad project could lead to a political scandal was a mere suspicion “which have not been supported by any facts or evidence.”

“The DPR prepared by the DMRC recommended the BOT route for the Hyderabad Metro and this recommendation was adopted by the Andhra Pradesh government. Till the award of the contracts, no doubts related to the BOT mode of execution were expressed by DMRC,” the Commission stated, reminding Sreedharan that DMRC was consultant to the project.

... contd.