Friday, 12 December 2014 Aam Aadmi Party takes strong exception to the BJP central government’s move to reward a subsidiary of the Reliance Infrastructure to the tune of Rs 1800 crore for botching up and exiting from the crucial Delhi airport metro project. The reported opinion of the government’s top law officer, Attorney General, Mr Mukul Rohatgi advising the government to pay Rs 1800 crore to a subsidiary company of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) for terminating the contract of Delhi airport metro with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is a blatant attempt to help this company at the cost of public money and is nothing short of a multi-crore rupee scam. This dubious move raises three big questions : 1) What is the reason for providing undue benefits to a company, Reliance subsidiary - Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) - that was involved in time and cost overrun of the project, operational incompetence, surreptious changes in the terms of agreement and unilateral exit which harmed the people of Delhi in every possible manner ? As is well known this project is involved in a series of dubious decisions right from its inception in 2006, these are : · The project was converted into Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on the ground that it was essential to meet the deadline of CommonWealth Games 2010 – a deadline that was finally never honoured. · Shockingly, this project was never sent for approval to the PPP Appraisal Committee of the central government, which was mandatory under the rules. · The terms of agreement were shockingly lopsided and favoured this private company over the DMRC. · Detailed Project Report (DPR) and letter of approval fixed the equity-debt ratio at 3:7. · The CAG report tabled in parliament in August last year stated that in the course of the project, the ratio was changed to 1:2.5 lakh . · The CAG report tabled in parliament on 8 August last year (2013) stated that Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), the subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure was operating a project worth Rs 5697 crore with an equity of just Rs one lakh. · The CAG stated there were serious irregularities, flouting of government norms and undue financial benefits to this private player in the Delhi airport Metro link.The report further stated this company should have been penalised for the non-completion of two of its proposed stations - Dhaula Kuan and Aero City, before the scheduled deadline. · According to the CAG, the company has not been asked to pay penalty which would amount to Rs 1.66 crore. Delhi Metro has, on the other hand, incurred losses of Rs 2.25 crore due to the unfinished project. · This Company cited lack of revenue to defer payments to DMRC – a request that was rejected.Following this, the company started raising civil defects about the project. DMRC informed the union urban development ministry this was a ploy to exit from an unprofitable project. The unilateral exit was not acceptable to the Delhi Metro Board. 2) Is it proper for the Attorney General to tender an opinion about a company of which he was one of the main counsels before he took up this constitutional post ? Will he disclose the amount he has so far received as fees and other benefits from the ADAG Group ? Are his associates still working for this corporate House ? If so, does this not amount to a clear case of conflict of interest ? 3) Is it not a case of political collusion between the two main political parties – the BJP and the Congress for providing undue benefits to select corporate houses ? As is well known, it was the UPA government which began the process of rewarding the Reliance Infra and BJP should answer why is it going a step forward ? Before this company was exposed in the CAG findings last year, the DMRC had also called its bluff in 2012. In a letter to the union urban development ministry in July 2012, when the airport line was shut down due to safety concerns, the DMRC chairman Mr Mangu Singh had pointed out that the argument of defective civil work argument was being “played up” by Reliance Infra in order to create a case for getting out of the agreement. This company finally exited the airport metro line in July last year and after leaving the project in a lurch, since it did not find it financially profit making. AAP GOVT ROLE : In January this year, when the AAP government was there in Delhi, it received a letter from the then urban development minister Mr Kamal Nath seeking views of the state government on why this payment should not be made to Reliance Infra subsidiary under the terms of condition of the contract, since it had terminated the same ? Delhi’s then transport minister Saurabh Bhardwaj noted that since the matter is in arbitration and also that this company exited the agreement purely on financial considerations, therefore the state government was opposed to any payment to this company for exiting the agreement. Arvind Kejriwal endorsed the view in his capacity as chief minister and the UPA government did not proceed with its plan. It is shocking why the BJP government is trying to help this company now. The AAP will oppose this decision at all levels – politically, it will raise the issue in parliament and if required the party will also take recourse to legal remedies, since DMRC cannot be armtwisted to pay such a huge amount of money, which should be utilised for the people of Delhi. The AAP warns the central government not to take any decision which has financial implications for the Delhi government, since it has a stake in the DMRC, in the absence of an elected government in the national capital. (ENDS) Regards, AAP Media cell
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:51:12 +0000
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