Delhi Metro gears up for Phase-III, trains middle-level staff

Delhi Metro Managing Director Mangu Singh said all civil tenders on two corridors -- Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate and Jahangir Puri to Badli -- have been awarded and contractors have begun work, while the design of stations and alignment have been finalised.

In his first interaction with media after taking over this January, Singh also played down the "high attrition rate" in the Delhi Metro and said the organisation does not depend on any one person as its structure is "unique".

He also exuded confidence that all corridors under the Phase-III, that connects another 103 km of the capital with the Metro, would be completed on time by 2016.

Identifying the middle-level staff as "backbone" for competency building during the Phase-III, Delhi Metro trained 76 such officers in three batches at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad in specially designed courses.

"We used the gap we got after completion of Phase-II to prepare ourselves for the Phase-III. It is a big challenge. With addition of some corridors, the entire length of Phase-III would eventually become 140 km," Singh said.

Since Delhi Metro is "technically advanced" and is hopeful of overcoming technical challenges, emphasis is being given for handling coordination among various agencies.

To a question about the resignation of Kumar Keshav, Director (Projects and Planning) and whether it would affect DMRC, Singh termed it as "almost sudden" but made it clear that it would not affect the functioning.

Singh also said Keshav's replacement would be made on June 10 or June 15 and added he takes the attrition rate in a positive way.

"The demand for Delhi Metro people is so high. That is why they are being poached with incentives. Through this way we can attract more and more people. We can attract much better people," he said. (More) PTI ETB RAI