New Delhi: Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan
on Thursday allayed concerns over the safety of the metro in the
wake of cracks appearing on piers, saying adequate steps have
been taken to strengthen them and the new age transport system
was completely safe.
"All piers have been checked by independent people
hired by the DMRC. All of them were checked thoroughly. In
this line alone (Noida), we strengthened 11 piers. There are
no concerns on safety issues," he said.
DMRC hired Sirish & Patel Associates to check the
piers after an under-construction bridge collapsed in
Zamrudpur in South Delhi on July 12 killing seven people.
The Delhi Metro also postponed the launch of the Noida
corridor due to strengthening of piers on the route.
After the inaugural ceremony of the Noida corridor,
Sreedharan told reporters that the recent fare hike in Metro
trains which come into effect from tomorrow was justified and
cited the organisation's expenditure for the decision.
The DMRC yesterday effected a 36 per cent hike in its
fare with the minimum being increased from Rs 6 to Rs 8, while
the maximum hiked from Rs 22 to Rs 30.
"The hike in the metro fare was decided after two
considerations. First, the last time that the fare was revised
was in December 2005, which was almost four years back and
second the metro network is now increasing rapidly.
Passengers can now travel up to 60 km in the metro," he said.
The DMRC chief said the revision of metro fare is
always done by a panel headed by a sitting or retired High
Court judge.
The decision taken by the panel is binding both on the
Delhi Government and the Delhi Metro.
"This hike depends on the affordability factor of the
commuter and maintaining a sound financial condition of the
organisation," he said.
"When metro network increases, our expenditure also
goes up. We have to pay back our loans (taken from the Japan
Bank.) All these factors have made the fare hike mandatory,"
Sreedharan said in reply to a query on the fare increase.
"This fare hike is minimal and it is across the
board," he said.
Intervening during Sreedharan's reply, Union Urban
Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy said, "The Government of
India has made available hundreds of acres of land to the DMRC
for large scale commercial exploitation. This is facilitating
the reasonable fare."
On the security of metro facilities and trains in
Noida, Reddy said he will "not reply to politically loaded
questions. That (Noida) part of the extension will also be
looked after by CISF personnel like in Delhi."
Sreedharan admitted that there were some incidents of
trains getting delayed on the Line 3 (Dwaraka Sector-9-Yamuna
Bank) due to "technical glitches".
"It is true that on Line 3 there were some occasions
of technical glitches. They were caused due to new type of
trains we have procured from Bomardier. We have procured 14
new trains," Sreedharan said.
He said that whenever a new train is inducted into
service, some problems may arise but added that to avoid them,
all these trains are now manned by experts.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009, 20:52