Reliance, Metro spar in public over airport line
17 July 2012 2:31 AM GMT
The bitterness between Reliance Infrastructure and Delhi Metro spilled virtually onto the streets on Monday when officials from the two sides crossed swords over the shutdown of the Airport Metro line at a press conference convened by the secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development at Nirman Bhawan. The Reliance officials did not even spare the secretary Sudhir Krishna, who is the ex-officio chairperson of Delhi Metro.
Sumit Banerjee, head, infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, countered the claim made by Krishna that the fault in the bearings came to their knowledge only after complaints were received. Banerjee on the other hand claimed that the fault existed in the line from day one.
Apart from Banerjee and Krishna, the Delhi Metro managing director Mangu Singh, the chief secretary of the Delhi government P K Tripathi and an additional member (Works) in the Railway Board A K Gupta were also present in the conference.
Announcing that the services on Airport line would be restored by August-end after a joint inspection team of Delhi Metro, Reliance Infrastructure and Indian Railways gave its findings, the government on Monday also appointed a two-member committee to find and fix responsibility for the defects that have been found in the bearings, the interface between pillar and girder. Krishna, however, also sounded caution that the August-end deadline may be missed if all bearings are inspected.
Reliance Infrastructure, which operates the line, blamed the Delhi Metro and the contractor saying 'these defects were there from day one'. Banerjee said, 'the nature of the defects are such that the drawings have not been followed in construction itself. These defects existed from day one.'
Delhi Metro Managing Director, Mangu Singh, however, did not oblige journalists when asked to respond to the allegations made by Reliance Infra.
STOP PASSING THE BUCK: SHEILA
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit took a dig at Delhi MRC and Reliance Infrastructure for passing the buck on each other over suspension of services on Airport Metro line and said there should not be any compromise on safety parameters on the 23-km high-speed corridor.
‘There is passing of buck currently by both sides. Metro is a pride of Delhi and we hope the difficulties will be sorted out soon,’ she said.
Noting that safety parameters should be given the highest priority, Dikshit said there should not be any compromise on issues relating to safety of passengers. ’Safety and smooth running of the train are the most important issues,’ said Dikshit.
Services on the Airport Metro Express line were suspended from 8 July after some faults on the civil structure was detected on the corridor. While Delhi Metro has built the civil structure on the line, Reliance Infra is responsible for operations and maintenance.
Dikshit said an independent committee has been set up to examine the issue. The committee comprises A K Gupta, additional member [works] in Railway Board and D Deeptivilas, additional secretary, urban development ministry.
She said the committee would soon submit its report to the urban development ministry based on which appropriate action would be taken. DMRC is a joint venture of the Delhi government and urban development ministry.
‘As both the sides are passing the buck on each other, it has been decided to set up an independent committee for a third party inspection,’ she said.
The chief minister said she has taken up the issue with DMRC chief Mangu Singh and asked him to look into the safety issues carefully.
‘I have issued instructions to DMRC,’ she said.
‘We do not want to compromise on safety aspect just to dogmatically chase a timeline,’ said Sudhir Krishna, secretary, urban development ministry and added that a location specific study of each defect would now be carried out before rehabilitation work starts.
‘The inspection team has given its findings and it has been discussed at the meeting today. About 540 bearings were inspected and faults ranging from minor to major ones have been detected on many of them. Now, we have decided to check all 2,100 bearings on the corridor,’ said Krishna.
Reliance Infrastructure, which operates the line, blamed the Delhi Metro and the contractor saying ‘these defects were there from day one’. Sumit Banerjee, head, infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, said, ‘The nature of the defects are such that the drawings have not been followed in construction itself. These defects existed from day one.’
Delhi Metro Managing Director Mangu Singh, however, did not oblige journalists when asked to respond to the allegations made by Reliance Infrastructure. Banerjee, who insisted more than once that the defects were there from day one, evaded questions whether the line was inaugurated without a thorough inspection of the civil structure to meet the deadline.
On who will bear the cost of the repairs, Krishna said though the Delhi Metro will initiate the work, the cost will be met by those who are liable under the contractual agreement. He said though the Reliance Infra has expressed concern over the state of affairs, the government was committed to make the PPP project ‘viable’.
‘From the government side we are committed to support the PPP agreement and will want this project to become viable and remain viable,’ he said. Delhi Metro MD Mangu Singh said the cost of the bearings is Rs 86 lakh but did not know how much money was needed for rehabilitation work.
MULLING OVER METRO
The airport line is a 23-km service between New Delhi Railway Station and the Indira Gandhi International Airport, and further to Dwarka’s Sector 21. It was a Rs 5,700-crore project that was the country’s first such public-private model. As per the pact, Delhi Metro Rail Corp was to carry out the civil works of the project and Reliance Infra was to operate the line for 30 years and share revenues. The line was ferrying about 15,000 people daily, covering the distance in 21 minutes.
Sumit Banerjee, head, infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, countered the claim made by Krishna that the fault in the bearings came to their knowledge only after complaints were received. Banerjee on the other hand claimed that the fault existed in the line from day one.
Apart from Banerjee and Krishna, the Delhi Metro managing director Mangu Singh, the chief secretary of the Delhi government P K Tripathi and an additional member (Works) in the Railway Board A K Gupta were also present in the conference.
Announcing that the services on Airport line would be restored by August-end after a joint inspection team of Delhi Metro, Reliance Infrastructure and Indian Railways gave its findings, the government on Monday also appointed a two-member committee to find and fix responsibility for the defects that have been found in the bearings, the interface between pillar and girder. Krishna, however, also sounded caution that the August-end deadline may be missed if all bearings are inspected.
Reliance Infrastructure, which operates the line, blamed the Delhi Metro and the contractor saying 'these defects were there from day one'. Banerjee said, 'the nature of the defects are such that the drawings have not been followed in construction itself. These defects existed from day one.'
Delhi Metro Managing Director, Mangu Singh, however, did not oblige journalists when asked to respond to the allegations made by Reliance Infra.
STOP PASSING THE BUCK: SHEILA
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit took a dig at Delhi MRC and Reliance Infrastructure for passing the buck on each other over suspension of services on Airport Metro line and said there should not be any compromise on safety parameters on the 23-km high-speed corridor.
‘There is passing of buck currently by both sides. Metro is a pride of Delhi and we hope the difficulties will be sorted out soon,’ she said.
Noting that safety parameters should be given the highest priority, Dikshit said there should not be any compromise on issues relating to safety of passengers. ’Safety and smooth running of the train are the most important issues,’ said Dikshit.
Services on the Airport Metro Express line were suspended from 8 July after some faults on the civil structure was detected on the corridor. While Delhi Metro has built the civil structure on the line, Reliance Infra is responsible for operations and maintenance.
Dikshit said an independent committee has been set up to examine the issue. The committee comprises A K Gupta, additional member [works] in Railway Board and D Deeptivilas, additional secretary, urban development ministry.
She said the committee would soon submit its report to the urban development ministry based on which appropriate action would be taken. DMRC is a joint venture of the Delhi government and urban development ministry.
‘As both the sides are passing the buck on each other, it has been decided to set up an independent committee for a third party inspection,’ she said.
The chief minister said she has taken up the issue with DMRC chief Mangu Singh and asked him to look into the safety issues carefully.
‘I have issued instructions to DMRC,’ she said.
‘We do not want to compromise on safety aspect just to dogmatically chase a timeline,’ said Sudhir Krishna, secretary, urban development ministry and added that a location specific study of each defect would now be carried out before rehabilitation work starts.
‘The inspection team has given its findings and it has been discussed at the meeting today. About 540 bearings were inspected and faults ranging from minor to major ones have been detected on many of them. Now, we have decided to check all 2,100 bearings on the corridor,’ said Krishna.
Reliance Infrastructure, which operates the line, blamed the Delhi Metro and the contractor saying ‘these defects were there from day one’. Sumit Banerjee, head, infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, said, ‘The nature of the defects are such that the drawings have not been followed in construction itself. These defects existed from day one.’
Delhi Metro Managing Director Mangu Singh, however, did not oblige journalists when asked to respond to the allegations made by Reliance Infrastructure. Banerjee, who insisted more than once that the defects were there from day one, evaded questions whether the line was inaugurated without a thorough inspection of the civil structure to meet the deadline.
On who will bear the cost of the repairs, Krishna said though the Delhi Metro will initiate the work, the cost will be met by those who are liable under the contractual agreement. He said though the Reliance Infra has expressed concern over the state of affairs, the government was committed to make the PPP project ‘viable’.
‘From the government side we are committed to support the PPP agreement and will want this project to become viable and remain viable,’ he said. Delhi Metro MD Mangu Singh said the cost of the bearings is Rs 86 lakh but did not know how much money was needed for rehabilitation work.
MULLING OVER METRO
The airport line is a 23-km service between New Delhi Railway Station and the Indira Gandhi International Airport, and further to Dwarka’s Sector 21. It was a Rs 5,700-crore project that was the country’s first such public-private model. As per the pact, Delhi Metro Rail Corp was to carry out the civil works of the project and Reliance Infra was to operate the line for 30 years and share revenues. The line was ferrying about 15,000 people daily, covering the distance in 21 minutes.
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