...Where wise men fear to tread

Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa have all made statements in Delhi at different times about the status of the prestigious project, only to see things working out to the contrary.

A case in point is the clearances that Metro has to get before it becomes operational. Not learning from Yeddyurappa, who had faced a huge embarrassment in April this year when the BMRCL failed to obtain the required certification to commercially operate the project even weeks after he announced that all the processes will be complete, the other politicians have been making statements that the BMRCL has received everything, while it has not.

On Tuesday, K H Muniappa made an announcement in Delhi that all the required clearances for Namma Metro had been provided and that the reach-1 (Baiyappanahalli-MG Road) of the project would be commissioned by the month-end.

But speaking to Deccan Herald, BMRCL Managing Director N Sivasailam said: “We are yet to receive the final clearance from the Railway Board on schedule of dimensions (SOD) and rolling stock. Once we get these, we will submit the same to the commissioner for railway safety (CRS) D K Singh who will in turn make recommendations to the Centre. Based on his views, the Centre will send the documents to the Chief CRS (Pravin Kumar) in Lucknow who will give the final safety certification.”

A clear indication that the Muniyappa had not really consulted the BMRCL, or for that matter even officials in his ministry.

D K Singh confirmed that he is yet to make any form of recommendations or even summerise his report based on the inspection conducted last week.

Similarly, Sadananda Gowda had made an announcement in August, during his first visit to Delhi after he took charge as the chief minister, that the project will be commissioned by September 15, while it always seemed impossible to meet the deadline.

He was, however, quick to tweak his statement. A few days later, he said: “We will receive all the clearances by September 15, but commissioning will be subject to the availability of the Prime Minister.”

And yet, even his deadline for obtaining all the certificates is unlikely to be met by the BMRCL, which is still awaiting critical clearances.

Sivasailam, commenting on the numerous shortcomings the CRS has pointed out after his inspection (reported in DH on Tuesday) said: “He had made about 28 observations but none of it requuired us to do any changes with the structure or at the ground level. They were all pertaining to document, instructions to staff and public notification and we have met all of them now.”

He said that the CRS among other things had put forth one condition with the Fire clearance and even that has been addressed.

“Also, we had instructed our staff about safety procedures in bullet points, but he wanted the instructions to be numbered, we have done even that.”