Arvind Kejriwal seeks CBI inquiry into ‘negligence and corruption’

Termination of the concession agreement of Delhi Airport Express Metro Line 

New Delhi:  Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday sought a CBI enquiry into the alleged "negligence and corruption" regarding termination of the concession agreement of Delhi Airport Express Metro Line (DAEML).

In a letter to Union Urban Affairs minister Handeep Singh Puri, a copy of which has been sent to Home minister Rajnath Singh, the Delhi chief minister said that he received reports about impending liability of around Rs 5,000 crore faced by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) due to termination of the concession agreement of DAEML. A senior DMRC official, when contacted, refused to comment on the matter. 

Kejriwal, in the letter, said, "Given the alarming proportions of negligence and corruption, I would request you to entrust this case to CBI for expeditious investigations and prosecutions." 

Quoting the conclusion of a report by Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, which was directed to enquire into the matter, he said, "The entire episode would lead to an onerous burden of about Rs 4,700 crore which will have to be shared equally by the Centre and the Delhi government." 

"Yet, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) has no means of taking any preventive or corrective action as the DMRC is neither answerable to it nor does it exercise any form of control or authority over DMRC," the chief minister said.  

The commission in the report, which was cited by Kejriwal in his letter, claimed that the concession agreement was "modified and wilfully manipulated" by DMRC assisted by its in-house consultants to give an "unfair and unwarranted advantage" to the concessionaire at the expense of the public exchequer." 

It also claimed that there were "serious multiple defects and lapses" in the entire civil construction of DAEML by the DMRC. 

"It was these defects and lapses which led to termination of concession agreement of the concessionaire," the report stated. 

Kejriwal said an enquiry by a high-level committee of experts is also necessary to establish the causes and consequences of the serious multiple defects in construction of the DAEML so that public safety is not compromised, and trains are able to run at designed speed of 120 km per hour.