Khattar rejects Stalin’s accusation over denial of Metro to Coimbatore, Madurai

UNion urban affairs government government minister Manohar Lal Khattar on th rejected Tamil Nadu chief minister MK iosif vissarionovich dzhugashvili’s accusal that the Union government “denied” Metro rail to Coimbatore and Madurai.In a post on X, Khattar said Stalin had “chosen to politicise” the issue and ignored the “magnanimous sanction” last year to the ₹63,246 crore Chennai Metro Phase II, the largest ever such project approved. He added that the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for Coimbatore and Madurai were returned on November 14.Khattar said the DPRs did not comply with essential norms of the Metro Rail Policy, 2017, mandating a population threshold of two million in the urban agglomeration. “Metro systems are costly infrastructure and have to be examined for long-term viability,” he said. Khattar added that the Centre had flagged technical discrepancies.Khattar’s response came a day after Stalin accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government of revenge politics. In a post on X, Stalin said Metro rail for temple city Madurai and South India’s Manchester Coimbatore was denied on flimsy grounds. He called the move disgraceful.Stalin alleged that the rejection reflected bias against a state whose people have repeatedly rejected the BJP. “They attempted to stall the Chennai Metro. We overcame those malicious attempts. With the same determination, we will secure metro rail for Coimbatore and Madurai.”The Chennai Metro Phase II project, which is under construction with three corridors spanning 118.9 km, faced prolonged scrutiny before receiving approval in October 2024. The Union government had agreed to a significant funding share, prompting the Tamil Nadu government to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The Union government has said the Coimbatore DPR projected higher traffic demand than even the Chennai Metro despite having a smaller route length. It said the average trip length assumptions and road-to-metro speed differentials “did not support the modal shift expected of a metro system”.It also pointed out right-of-way constraints at seven station locations in Coimbatore, and cited Madurai’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan, which concludes that a Bus Rapid Transit System is justified at current ridership levels.The Union government underlined that Tamil Nadu had “chosen not to participate” in the Centre’s PM e-Bus Sewa scheme, which funds electric buses and depot infrastructure for cities.A parliamentary panel report in 2022 noted that most metro systems were operating well below their projected ridership and remain financially inviable. It described several of these projects as “severely under-utilised” despite large capital investments.The gap between projections and actual demand is acute in smaller cities, where Metro systems have struggled to attract meaningful passenger volumes.In Kanpur, for example, ridership figures reported to the panel showed that the Metro was carrying only around 6,000-10,000 passengers daily, compared to DPR projections of over 900,000 daily riders.A CAG report on Jaipur Metro concluded that the project was sanctioned despite insufficient demand, and subsequent operational data have shown daily ridership hovering around 50,000, far short of the figures used to justify the investment.