Metro Rail systems: Stalin writes to Modi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote a detailed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing disappointment and anguish over the rejection of proposals for Metro Rail systems in Coimbatore and Madurai, and urging him to instruct the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to reconsider the decision.

“Tamil Nadu, being the most urbanised State in the country with a high per capita private vehicle ownership, needs high-capacity public transport alternatives in all its large growth engine cities. Towards this, we had prepared the DPRs for Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rails and forwarded the same to MoHUA for approval,” Mr. Stalin said in his letter.

“Considering the high priority accorded to these two projects, we were continuously following up with the relevant Ministry. In this backdrop, the rejection of this request has taken us by complete surprise. It has created deep resentment amongst the people of the two cities that their deserving needs have been rejected, as compared to similar projects sanctioned in other States,” Mr. Stalin said.

According to him, the purported reasons quoted in the communication from MoHUA are not appropriate and the criterion of two million population, as in the Metro Rail Policy 2017, has been cited as one of the main reasons for rejection.

“I wish to highlight that the population of the Coimbatore LPA area had exceeded 2 million way back in 2011 itself, and in the case of Madurai too, the expected population is likely to exceed it now. It is pertinent to point out at this juncture that if this 2 million criterion had been applied uniformly, many Metros in Tier-II cities like Agra, Indore, and Patna may not have materialised,” the Chief Minister said.

“The selective application of this criterion to our proposal has created an impression of discrimination against our cities, and the Union government needs to dispel it by treating our cities on par with the cities mentioned above. In addition, the adequacy of ridership for the project in Coimbatore city has been determined by comparing it with the ridership in Chennai. This is not appropriate, as ridership depends on multiple factors. Both these cities have commuting patterns different from Chennai,” Mr. Stalin said.