India's 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan, who was working as Advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government on metro rail projects, has submitted his resignation to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Yes, I had submitted a resignation on July 1. I tendered the resignation because of my old age, which has made it difficult for me to travel to Andhra Pradesh frequently. Besides that, the work pressure was also more.E Sreedharan
Sreedharan, who was Principal Advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), was in 2015 called in to oversee the Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada metro rail projects.
Quoting sources, The New Indian Express reported that Sreedharan tendered his resignation due to differences with Naidu.
The newspaper report also claimed that Sreedharan did not get an appointment with the CM, even after trying for a month.
However, when asked about it, he told The News Minute that he did not want to comment on the issue, and insisted that it was his old age that led him to resign.
A History of Delays
In September 2015, Sreedharan submitted detailed project reports (DPRs) to Chandrababu Naidu, in the presence of the then Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu.
At the time, the Chief Minister had told mediapersons that both projects would be completed by December 2018.
The metro project in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam was estimated to cost Rs 12,727 crore, while the one in Vijayawada would cost Rs 6,769 crore, Chandrababu Naidu had said.
However, almost two years later, the state government is still in the phase of considering proposals.
Breaking down the numbers related to the Vijayawada metro project, Sreedharan had said that the project comprised of two corridors. Corridor 1 (Pandit Nehru Bus Terminal to Penamaluru) was proposed to be 12.76 km long and corridor 2 (Pandit Nehru Bus Terminal to Nidamanuru) was expected to be 13.27 km long.
It was also stated that corridor 1 would be linked to the capital city of Amaravati, while corridor 2 would be connected to Gannavaram airport.
After the project barely progressed for two years, in May 2017, the Union Finance Ministry refused to approve the Vijayawada metro rail project, stating that the Centre did not find it financially viable.
Vijayawada metro would not be able to match the peak passengers-per-hour-per-direction (called ‘ridership’) requirement, which is minimum 20,000 in a single direction, for at least the next two-and-a-half decades.Senior official, Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC)
This directly contradicted what Venkaiah Naidu had said in 2015, that though Vijayawada did not meet the population criteria for taking up the metro project, the central government had granted an exemption.
Even the Chief Minister completely changed his trajectory.
Last month, the AMRC met Chandrababu Naidu to discuss alternative transportation proposals for Vijayawada.
They proposed the use of LRT, stating that it was more flexible and profitable than the metro.
The LRT system, one of the most avant-garde technologies operating in Germany and France, allows for increasing the number of cars, and hence, frequency, depending on the footfall, while the metro train system is more rigidPress Release, CM’s Office
Venkaiah Naidu said, “Every person in the city must travel a maximum of 30 minutes to reach their regular destinations. The transportation system must be efficient and pollution-free.”
Even the Visakhapatnam metro rail project has made no headway.
Though proposed in 2014, ahead of the Vijayawada metro rail, the state government reportedly did not allocate funds for the project.
As of March this year, the project was awaiting an in-principle nod from the Centre, after submitting the DPRs.
Even in June this year, officials maintained that they were awaiting the Centre's Metro Rail Policy to be implemented, following which the DPR would head to the Finance Ministry for approval.
With the future of both proposals of the metro rail projects looking bleak, it would seem that Vijayawada's residents only have a 'Light Metro' to look forward to.
In the first week of August, a team of experts from German development bank KfW met the Andhra Chief Minister and proposed an alternative mode of transport — a train operated on light rails that runs at an average speed of 35 kmph.
Stating that the LMR could be extended to Amaravati and Gannavaram airport for a much cheaper cost, experts told the state government that land acquisition rates would also be lower.
(This article was originnally published in an arragement with the The News Minute.)
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue? Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at bol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)