‘World Class’: Arrogance of the Ignorant

Is the multi-crore 'magnificent success' called Delhi Metro turning out to be a holy cow? Hardnews opens a public debate on a touch-me-not issue
Dunu Roy Delhi

Urban renewal is one of the flagship projects of the present government and the Metro has become the iconic face of the "world-class city". Both were projected in all their glory when Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Urban Development, was participating in a panel discussion on 'Why Dream Cities turn Living Nightmares' hosted by CNN-IBN late in the evening of July 14, 2009. The minister declared in resonant tones that the Metro in Delhi was a "magnificent success", but deftly avoided the issue of what constituted "success". 

For instance Phase I of the Metro with three lines was initiated in 1995-1996, to be completed in 10 years. When Phase I was completed in November 2006, DMRC claimed that it was "three years ahead of schedule" (based on a presumed starting date of 1998), although the recent audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India indicates that there was a delay of 6, 15, and 14 months respectively for Lines 1, 2, and 3. Who, then, is to believe for confirmation of this parameter of 'success'?

The figures for 'ridership' are even more intriguing. In the original 'Project Report' for the Metro of 1995, the number of passenger trips per day was stipulated as 31.85 lakh. This was scaled down arbitrarily to 22.6 lakh in 2003. Now the CAG reveals that it has never increased beyond 6.62 lakh, that too in 2007 - one year after completion of Phase I. Unfortunately, the general public has no way of checking out the official assertions because the page of the DMRC website relating to ridership figures has been "under construction" for the past two years.

This "successful" performance at the level of 29 per cent of target has been reflected in the balance sheets of DMRC. In 2002-2003, DMRC incurred a loss of Rs 8.3 crore. The next year this climbed to Rs 32.4 crore, and in 2004-2005, the loss was Rs 76.3 crore. After that DMRC has been claiming that it makes "operational profits" but, not surprisingly, the balance sheets have disappeared from the public domain. The only oblique reference the minister made to this measure of "success" was to acknowledge that "we have not built enough feeder channels so that more people could travel in the Metro".

However, this aspect of 'feeding' a linear system was well known long before the Metro was built, both from the experience of the Kolkata Metro as well as the Ring Rail in Delhi, both built in the 1980s. Then why was this not incorporated into the designed plan of the Delhi Metro? In fact, in an effort to 'persuade' commuters to abandon the cheaper bus system for the swanky Metro, 15 routes of the DTC with 58 buses plying along the Metro corridor, and three routes of the STA with 106 buses, had been curtailed or diverted by 2006. Yet, this did not apparently succeed in enhancing ridership figures to any significant degree - perhaps because the ticket costs were three times higher.