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Gurgaon News - 2004

Azad gets Metro tour, likes what he sees

New Delhi, June 16: It was Urban Development minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s turn to discover the virtues of the city’s Metro today. The Dehli Metro Rail Corporation took the minister on a guided tour of the transport system after which he publicly abandoned his ‘‘apprehensions’’ about the project and even praised the ‘‘good work’’ being undertaken by the corporation under Managing Director E. Sreedharan.

After the tour, the minister said, "When I was in the Opposition, I thought, why spend so much money one one city.....but today I am happy and satisfied to note the work culture, efficiency, workmanship and transparency that exists here. It is also heartening to note that the cost-estimates haven’t been revised during the implementation of Phase I."

‘‘By carrying 15 lakh passengers a day, the Metro will bring down both the pollution an accidents in the city by 50 pc. It will also save fuel and cut journey time across the city by 15 to 75 pc,’’ he said.

Notwithstanding his difficulty in mastering the ’press-to-talk’ technology at the Operation Control Centre where he was invited to talk to train-drivers on duty, he was impressed with what he saw during his trip from Kashmere Gate to Inderlok and back to Shastri Park.

‘‘We will see that a decision regarding the approval of changes suggested to Phase I of the project will be taken soon," he said. He also promised greater co-ordination between the state and central governments in implementation ‘‘now that the same party is in power at the state and Centre.’’

On former chief minister Madan Lal Khurana being the DMRC chairman, Azad said he was all for apolitical appointments to such posts as partisan appointments can only lead to confusion.

On his part, E.Sreedharan said that his corporation had conducted investigations on extending the metro to Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad.