Activists allege MMRDA hiding crucial info

While the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) claims to have brought in transparency through the use of social media and a dedicated website for updates on upcoming metro corridors, activists allege that the body is hiding from the public crucial documents related to upcoming metro corridors.

Activists claim that by asking for money in return for detailed project reports of approved metro corridors i.e. D.N. Nagar-Dahisar Metro 2A corridor and Andheri east-Dahisar east Metro 7 corridor, not making DPRs available in its library, and not giving soft copies of approved DPRs, the MMRDA is hiding information from the public.

On the other hand, the MMRDA claims that these reports are proprietary and not available for free circulation. “Items in the report contain coordinates of alignments of stations, so they are not available for free circulation for security reasons. If somebody wants, we can provide the summary on specific request,” said P.R.K. Murthy, director of metro projects.

Commenting on MMRDA charging Rs 20,000 for a hard copy of the DPR, transport expert, A.V. Shenoy, said, “This is not right and documents should be made available on CD for which, MMRDA can charge, say around Rs 100 or 200, but charging something like this is depriving the public of information.”

Another transport expert, Jitendra Gupta, said, “In a way, MMRDA is depriving the public of information on the project or maybe, it is doing so to avoid litigation on the project. It could be good or could be bad, but a soft copy of the report should be made available to the common public.”

In the view of right to information (RTI) activists, DPRs should be made available online. “Why should one be made to file a RTI for obtaining something like DPR that is approved by the state government It should be made available in the library of MMRDA or should be uploaded on the website of MMRDA,” said RTI activist, Anil Galgali.

Transport expert, Ashok Datar, said, “Crucial details of the project like how it will be integrated with other modes of transport, how project cost will be recovered from fares should be made available to the public and one should not be charged so heavily for the same.”

Interestingly, the MMRDA has decided to ensure better communication with citizens via the Internet. It has planned a dedicated website to provide updates on metro projects so that NGOs and citizens will be dissuaded from protesting or going to court. Meanwhile, U.P.S. Madan, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, was not available for comment.