Metro chief hits back at CAG report

Responding to allegations that DMRC is not directly accountable to any administrative ministry,Sreedharan said the corporation is under the supervision of both Delhi government and the Centre. “Will we perform only if we are made accountable? We are under the supervision of several bodies like CAG,Central Vigilance Committee,Parliamentary committees and our annual reports are tabled in the legislature.”

He said there is a paradox in CAG’s report since it acknowledges DMRC’s good performance but also says the corporation is not accountable to any overarching government body. “If they want us to be a government department then our performance will be like that of other government bodies,like the PWD.”

Sreedharan rubbished that DMRC diluted standards to rush projects. He said it is not possible to keep records of every test with the available employee strength. “Only critical tests are witnessed and the final products are tested. But even for that we always specify approved sources,say we recommend only SAIL and Tata for steel.

“But if the material is coming from some other private sources we test it.”

About CAG’s charge that Metro acquired land exceeding to its needs,he said,“Whatever land is given to us is for construction purposes,never for property development. Even at Shashtri Park we were given 65 hectares for the station and depot,but we planned it in such a way that we managed to save land and came up with the first IT Park.”

He said,“We also exploit top floors of stations and use station premises for commercial development — the revenue generated goes back to the Delhi Metro so that we do not become a burden on the government.

“Otherwise it is not possible to raise revenue only on ticket fares.”

Countering allegations that DMRC failed to meet passenger figures projected for Phase-I,Sreedharan said the ridership in 1995 was projected as 31 lakh and then revised to 23 lakh by RITES. But DMRC was not involved in this estimate,he said. When the the metro rail body was constituted later it had estimated 11 lakh passengers,he added.

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