Kochi Metro gets new managing director

The Kerala govt on Tuesday appointed Elias George, a senior IAS  officer, as managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Corporation Limited  in place of Tom Jose.

Jose has been appointed as secretary, Public Works Department.

The government’s decision comes in the wake of a number of allegations levelled against Jose as managing director of Komet, including a letter he wrote to DMRC stating global tender would be invited for the Rs 5,000 crore project.

However, neither the state government nor the director board of the company had taken this decision. DMRC had prepared the detailed project report and started construction of the two overbridges as a preparatory work. This created a row over its implementation and later chief minister Oommen Chandy clarified that DMRC would be entrusted with the project and its mentor E Sreedharan would associate with it as adviser.