Khattar flags flaws in proposals for Coimbatore, Madurai Metro

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday rejected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s allegation that the Centre was denying metro projects to Madurai and Coimbatore on “flimsy grounds”, saying the Chief Minister had chosen to “politicise” a routine procedure under the Metro Rail Policy, 2017.

In a detailed post on X, the minister said the policy had been framed to ensure that high-value infrastructure projects were approved only after rigorous scrutiny so that public funds were used efficiently.

Khattar said the Chief Minister had “ignored” the Centre’s “magnanimous sanction” of October 3, 2024, when the Union Cabinet approved Chennai Metro Phase-II at an estimated cost of Rs 63,246 crore for a 119-km network, the largest metro project ever sanctioned in the country.

According to the minister, the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) submitted for Coimbatore and Madurai contain several discrepancies that must be addressed before any approval can be considered. For Coimbatore, he said traffic projections were inexplicably higher than those for Chennai despite the former having a shorter route length, with initial assessments indicating these figures appeared “erroneous”.

He said the projected trip lengths and speed differences between road transport and the proposed metro did not justify expectations of a significant modal shift.

Khattar further noted that the Coimbatore DPR identified inadequate right-of-way at seven station locations. In the case of Madurai, he pointed to the city’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan, which reportedly states that given current ridership levels, a Bus Rapid Transit System would be more viable.

He also highlighted population-related inconsistencies in the Coimbatore plan, saying ridership projections were based on data from a Local Planning Area nearly five times larger than the municipal limits, adding that such assumptions “need justification”.

Separately, the minister criticised the Tamil Nadu Government for not availing itself of the Centre’s PM-eBus Sewa scheme, under which 10,000 air-conditioned electric buses are to be deployed across Indian cities with Central financial support for vehicles, depots and allied infrastructure. He said repeated reminders had been issued to the state, but it had not participated in the programme so far.

His remarks came a day after the Chief Minister accused the Centre of discriminating against Tamil Nadu for political reasons, claiming that BJP-ruled states had been cleared for metro projects in smaller Tier-II cities while opposition-ruled states were being denied similar approvals.

In his post, Stalin said the Centre was treating Tamil Nadu’s democratic mandate as “a reason to take revenge”.