Karunanidhi halts Jaya's metro move

In a classic case of how divisive politics mars infrastructure growth, the Karunanidhi government has halted the Chennai metro project proposed by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Moreover, the state government has even put on hold the payment for the detailed project report, conducted by Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) for three corridors in the city.

The DMRC experts had selected two corridors as feasible for metro rail transit system — Thiruvottiyur to Meenambakkam Airport along with Mint Street-Anna Salai (31.5 km) and Madras Beach to Koyambedu (13.5 km).

However, the government turned down the proposal and instead suggested a proposal for monorail system. GK Vasan, minister of state for statistics and programme implementation, is also learnt to have expressed the need for a metro in Chennai.

The Tamil Nadu government had, during the AIADMK regime, asked DMRC to prepare the development project report (DPR) for the project. Delhi Metro had prepared the report along with DPRs for other cities like Kochi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

While work in Mumbai has already been kicked off, Bangalore and Hyderabad projects are awaiting final clearances.

Mr Vasan has, therefore, stated that he would urge the Tamil Nadu government to get the DPR for Chennai metro completed so that Central government clearances could be sought for the project.