A Concession Agreement With L&T Prohibits Govt From Developing Other Transport Systems
Hyderabad: While Hyderabad metro rail is expected to be the panacea to the growing traffic congestion in the city, the urban rail services can sound the death knell to other public transport systems already in place in the city due to a monopoly clause granted by the state to Larsen & Toubro, the private partner, through the concession agreement.
The clause in the concession agreement restricts the governmentfrom developing or improving the public transport system along thestretchof thethreecorridors- Miyapur to LB Nagar (corridor-I), Jubilee Bus Station to Falaknuma (corridor-II) and Nagole to Shiplaramam (corridor-III) – where the metro rail is taking shape. This would mean that there would be no scope for the improvement of the city bus service or MMTS (Multi-Model Transport System) that has emerged as a popular modeof urban rail transport.
The concession agreement says: “The government shall not construct any rail or road transport system between, inter alia, the three metro corridors” for a period of 35 years from the date the metro rail becomes operational. Further, L&T is entitled to an additional concession period of another 35 years. That means that the state government cannot develop any other public transport system for over 70 years without the consent of the private engineering company.
More startlingly, the concession agreement even restricts the government from revising the fare for the public transport or extending discounts or reductions in the fare and in the event of breach of these provisions, the government is liable to pay compensation to L&T under the latter’s terms. This clause can go against the state government andcan endup acting againstthe interests of the commuter for whose benefit the metro rail has been conceived.
This is because at a delay of Rs 5 crore per day in the construction of the project, keeping in mind the factors of the prevailing rate of inflation, insurance, currency fluctuation and rate of interest on the escalated project cost, the basic fare of the metro rail is expected to be around Rs 14 as of April 1, 2016. This would mean that the commuter would have to pay a high price for travelling on the metro rail even as the state would be helpless in improving the other modes of transport.
Charging that these provisions of the concession agreement are in violation of the Competition Act 2002, members of civil society, who have already petitioned the AP High Court against Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) on the charges of changing the alignment unilaterally, are now mulling moving the Competition Commission. “The provisions made in the concession agreement are monopolistic and are in defiance of the Competition Act. We are planning tocomplain totheCompetition Commission,” said Prof C Ramachandriah, who is spearheading the agitation against metro rail project.
While citing a similarity of the Hyderabad metro rail case with that of the Bangalore International Airport (BIA) that is facing a case under the Monopolistic Trade Practice Act after it insisted upon the closure of the government-run HAL airport in the city, Ramachandriah said curtailing the growth of public sector companies to suit the needs of private companies was unfair. A petition filed by Vivek Kulkarni, a former IAS officer, against BIA, is pending in the Karnataka high court.
However, authorities in HMRL said the metro rail service would only supplement the existing public transport system, and, hence, would not violate the Competition Act. “We are making use of the city buses as the feeder service for the metro rail. There is no question of treating it as our competitor,” said a senior officer in the HMRL. An e-mail query to the L&T did not elicit reply.
Naxals gun down SIB cop
Reds Angry With Him For ‘Role’ In Colleagues’ Surrender
Paderu: Maoists struck terror in Visakha Agency on Thursday evening by gunning down a Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) constable. In a similar incident earlier in the day, naxalites brutally killed two tribals and kidnapping 10 others from a village near Gadchiroli in eastern Maharashtra,
Forty-five-year-old Kuda Appanna became the first SIB cop to have been shot dead by red guerrillas in the state. Sources said a Maoist action team carried out the dastardly attack at the government junior college grounds at around 5.30pm when Appanna got out of his car to fill air in the tyres.
Eyewitnesses said that three armed youth opened fire on Appanna the moment he got out of the car. Four rounds were fired from close and Appanna took bullets in his head and chest. “All of them had weapons and they fired at him from a very close range. He died on the spot,” an eyewitness said. The attack carried out, the rebels fled the scene within seconds.
Appanna, a native of Darela village in Munchingput mandal, had been working as an intelligence cop for 15 years and had been attached to SIB for the last six of those. Sources said Maoists had targeted him as they believed that he was the pointsman sending out key information about their whereabouts to the intelligence wing.
“The rebels were also mighty upset with Appanna for his role in mass surrenders of Maoist militia members” a source pointed out. The deceased cop is survived by two wives and two children, aged five and one-anda-half years.
Earlier, a group of armed Maoists swooped down on Markegaon village in Gadchiroli division in the morning and caught hold of girijan duo Devsay Usandi and Ram Narote whose throats they then proceeded to slit in front of the villagers. After killing the duo whom they charged with being police informers, the rebels took away 10 tribals along with them and disappeared into the nearby forest.
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