Subhas calls Mamata’s proposal absurd

Last week,Banerjee had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to take steps for handing over the East-West Metro corridor project to the Railways. The Centre then sought the state government’s opinion in this regard.

At present,the project is being handled by Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation in which the state government and Union Urban Development Ministry own equal stake. In her letter,Banerjee had alleged that the Left Front government would not be able to handle the project as 18 lakh people will be displaced by the project.

“What she is saying is absolutely baseless. In all,458 people will be evicted and their rehabilitation process is also complete. We have already submitted a status paper of the project to Union Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy,” Chakraborty said.

According to a state government official,if the project is handed over to the railway ministry the Centre will have to make new legislation as in 1986 it had changed its rules of business preventing the railways from taking up any Metro project. Kolkata Metro is the sole Metro project which is under the railway ministry.

The corridor will have 12 stations and the estimated cost has been pegged at Rs 4,676 crore,which will be funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.