:: Dilip Cherian

Whose Metro is it anyway?

By Dilip Cherian

Mar 29 : Whose Metro is it anyway? The poser is valid since the government itself is unsure. With several Central departments and state governments fighting over the ownership of the Metro rail systems in the country, the Centre hopes the view of the attorney general of India will resolve this vexed issue.

Apparently, the railways, urban development and finance ministries and the Planning Commission are at loggerheads over the Centre’s legislative powers in respect of all the many Metro rail projects. Urban development secretary M. Ramachandran correctly wants the government to pass a comprehensive law on the issue, but it is resisted by the railway ministry which wants sole control over Metro rail systems. Meanwhile, Mr Ramchandran and his babus are tussling with the Planning Commission over the public-private partnership (PPP) mode preferred by the panel. The resultant impasse has delayed the Metro projects in Chennai and Kochi. The sarkari support for the PPP model is driven by the view that the government cannot fund all these projects even though Delhi Metro chief E. Sreedharan had publicly criticised this model in the context of the Hyderabad Metro project.

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Top loaded

The government has a convenient solution to the mounting backlog of the Right to Information (RTI) appeals at the Central Information Commission (CIC) — appoint two new information commissioners. At present, the CIC has seven commissioners following the retirement of O.P. Kejriwal last month, and the rules do allow up to 10 commissioners. But RTI activists doubt whether this alone will reduce CIC’s workload. According to activist Shekhar Singh, the current commissioners can comfortably end the pendency if they are equipped with adequate support staff to dispose 250-300 appeals every month. He suggests providing at least 16 staffers to assist each information commissioner than paying a hefty salary to a new entrant at the top level.

This, however, is unlikely to happen as the government has already turned down information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi’s request for additional staff stating that the department of expenditure had placed an inexplicable bar of seven staff per commissioner. So while in all likelihood the CIC will get two more information commissioners, few are willing to wager on any particular improvement in the working of the overloaded commission. Why the top load, we wonder?

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Spare the Rod

For the past few months Chandigarh has witnessed a war of attrition between the city’s administrator and Punjab governor Gen. S.F. Rodrigues and Union Territory (UT) adviser Pradeep Mehra over some controversial land deals. Mr Mehra, the senior-most babu in the UT had objected to several high-profile projects like Film City and Medi-City initiated by Gen. Rodrigues. The stand-off split the babu ranks, with charges flying fast and furious, until the government initiated a vigilance probe into Mr Mehta’s allegations.

But the battle continues unabated. Gen. Rodrigues had withdrawn Mr Mehra’s powers to write annual confidential reports of his subordinate babus following a corruption complaint against him. Although Mr Mehra was absolved, Gen. Rodrigues refused to restore Mr Mehra’s authority. Now, in what is clearly a setback, the Centre has directed the UT administrator to restore Mr Mehra’s authority. But everybody’s waiting for Gen. Rodrigues’ next move. Watch this space for updates!