Operation of two Delhi Metro lines by private players
It is not understood, as to what necessitated to handover the two corridors of the Delhi Metro to private players?
New Delhi: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is going to privatize operation of two of its oldest corridors, i.e. Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) and Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre) with the outsourcing of most crucial job; that of a Train Operator (Driver).
In this connection, it may be recalled that, earlier, one of the most important corridors The Airport Express Line (between New Delhi-and Delhi Airport) was given to M/s Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., for operation, but ultimately, the company failed to operate the Metro on this section properly, whereby the same has again been taken over by the DMRC and being operated by the DMRC itself.
In this connection, Com. Shivgopal Mishra, General Secretary, All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) said in a written statement that in our opinion, the above-mentioned two corridors – Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) and Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre), are functioning smoothly and rendering services to a large segment by its users to their utmost satisfaction. As such, it is not understood, as to what necessitated to handover the said two corridors of the Delhi Metro Rail to private players?
In this connection, it is worth mentioning that, for the DMRC, safety had been the first priority, and by privatizing operations of these lines, the safety of the Metro System will be put on danger, which should be avoided at any cost.
In India, we did not have any private institution or licensing authorities which are imparting training and giving license to Motormen, Loco Pilots and Train Operators up till now. The burden of their training and providing them license will still remain with the institution only. The only thing which is going to happen will be exploitation of such recruited staff through GSS, who will not get proper wages and will be deprived of fixed working hours and Calendar Rest etc. They may be deprived of Social Security and the sword of higher and fire will always be hanging on their heads. All these factors will create stress and mental agony in these frontline staff and can lead to disaster, Com. Mishra said.
He said that since AIRF has always strongly opposed any move of the Indian Railways for privatizing operations and even maintenance, we do oppose the proposal of the DMRC Management for handing over operations of the Metro System to private companies.
He sincerely hopes that DMRC will review this decision and time tested system of operation by the Metro’s own staff will be allowed to continue in the larger interest of the system and the traveling public.