Delhi Metro to run out of steam without funds

Joining the chorus of dissatisfied ministers crying hoarse over the severe cut in their finances thanks to the tight budgetary constraints b...

Joining the chorus of dissatisfied ministers crying hoarse over the severe cut in their finances thanks to the tight budgetary constraints by the Finance Minister, is Ananth Kumar, Minister for Urban Development. The reason he is unhappy with the fund allocations is because his pet project, the Delhi Metro could well be grounded unless the Finance Ministry bails it out. Given that the Metro will have a crucial role to play in the forthcoming elections for Delhi state, Kumar has shot off a letter to the Planning Commission for reconsideration.

Unless the allocation for the ambitious Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is raised, Delhi’s dream project will be out of funds after July. The Planning Commission has earmarked Rs 1,600 crore for the Ministry out of which only Rs 680 crore is marked for the DMRC. This is clearly inadequate to meet even one single requirement of Rs 1,807 crore for ‘pass-through assistance’ of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) loan to DMRC for the project. The ministry had asked for Rs 3,383.67 crore GBS for 2003-04.

In a letter to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant, Ananth Kumar said, ‘‘this amount will be barely adequate to meet their requirement till July 2003 and DMRC will be forced to seek supplementary grant for the balance amount of Rs 1,127 crore in the first batch of supplementary demands during the Monsoon Session of Parliament itself.’’

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The Minister said that the allocations for other ongoing projects have also been pegged below the current year’s level. He said this will have the impact of decelerating growth in the urban development sector instead of accelerating it during the second year of the Plan.

Ananth Kumar also mentions in his letter that after the ‘pass-through assistance’ of Rs 680 crore and Rs 200 crore investment in DMRC and 10 per cent of GBS earmarked for lumpsum provision for the North-Eastern Region including Sikkim, other ongoing projects will be left with allocations less than the current year. He said two initiatives announced during the Tenth Plan — City Challenge Fund and Pooled Finance Development Fund— will get only Rs 50 lakh which is much below the requirement.

The Minister, however, said that in order not to delay the Budget process, the ministry accepted the allocation for his department under protest. He also sought a meeting with Pant to discuss the matter. Earlier, the finance ministry had informed the Commission that it can no way increase the GBS more than Rs 1,17.500 crore. This is well short of Planning Commission’s demand of Rs 1,34,064 crore. The major victims of this curtailment of funds will be several of Central and State projects in the Tenth Plan. Due to unavailablity of more funds, the Commission kept the same amount of allocation for several projects this year also.