BENGALURU: Friday’s climbdown by both the central and state governments on suburban rail was a virtual volte-face, as it came two weeks after a missive from the Railway Board to Karnataka chief secretary, accusing the latter of deviating from the original understanding and backtracking on its commitments.“I am surprised to learn that the state government gave ‘in-principle’ approval to the project subject to as many as 19 conditions on a proposal initiated by the state government in the first place... It is discouraging to note that the state government has deviated from the original understanding and sought for a much bigger scope of the project and backtracked from its commitment made on various occasions with respect to various aspects of the proposal,” Yadav had said in the letter, giving point-wise remarks on conditions that could and couldn’t be agreed upon.However, in a sudden turn of events on Friday, the railway ministry ironed out differences over most of the 19 conditions laid out by the Karnataka government to take the suburban rail project forward.The Centre and the state had earlier agreed to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the project in a joint partnership between Karnataka government and the Centre, with a 51:49 ownership pattern. The cost-sharing for the project was to be 20% equity each by state and the railways, and remaining 60% through loans.One of Karnataka’s major conditions was the need to connect western, north western and central parts of the city to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) under the suburban network. At Friday’s meeting, in-principle approval was given to modify the suburban project such that the corridor terminates at Jnanabharathi Station. This, according to railway sources, will help people in central and western parts reach KIA on suburban trains.However, Karnataka government’s demand to change the length and coverage of corridors from 161km to 360km was not endorsed by the ministry of railways. “A detailed project report was prepared as per scope jointly identified by the ministry of railways and the government of Karnataka and work has been sanctioned accordingly. Increasing the length by 123% is not feasible,” said a release from the ministry.The Karnataka government conceded ground on nine points, including one on Namma Metro lines being prioritised, while planning suburban rail. On Friday, it was decided that the state government will withdraw the same as it’d inordinately delay project execution.The Karnataka government wanted the proceeds from sale of TDR to be used first to fund the land acquisition cost, over and above the commitment of Rs 2,180 crore. The same now stands withdrawn.

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