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Journalism of Courage
Voicing his opposition to the proposed monorail,the mode of mass transport that found favour with the AIADMK regime over the Metro rail system,former chief of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation E Sreedharan has said it is disappointing that the authorities chose to pursue monorail proposal instead of completing the Chennai Metro Rail project that is under construction.
Being almost 50 per cent more expensive but with only one-third or one-fourth of carrying capacity,the monorail system was not suited for the congested urban centre like Chennai,said the much-feted engineer,arguing that it was totally inadequate to meet the needs of the city. Monorail could be used as a feeder service to the Metro,it cannot be the main mode, Sreedharan said here on Tuesday.
Even as he expressed satisfaction over the ongoing work of phase-I of the Chennai Metro,he was disappointed that the government has not taken up efforts to begin work on the next two phases as originally planned.
This is not the first time Sreedharan has expressed his opposition to the monorail system that the J Jayalalithaa government has been favouring instead of the Metro system that her rival,M Karunanidhi,commissioned while in power.
Just before he stepped down as the chief of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in 2011,Sreedharan wrote to the states chief secretary that the monorail lobby was misguiding the urban planners,which in turn was affecting the expansion of the Metro system.
