Govt panel working on safety norms

The metro accident that took place on early Sunday morning claimed six innocent lives. But to prevent a repetition of such incidents in the future, the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety is giving final touches to a Safety Commission report which will lay down guideline for all big infrastructure projects like the Delhi Metro.

The metro accident that took place on early Sunday morning claimed six innocent lives. But to prevent a repetition of such incidents in the future, the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety — under whom safety issues related to Delhi Metro comes — is giving final touches to a Safety Commission report which will lay down guideline for all big infrastructure projects like the Delhi Metro.

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M Ramachandran, Union Urban Development secretary said, “The Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety is in the process of formulating the overall safety guideline for all metro projects. We are also giving our inputs to the safety commission report.”

Ramachandran said the ministry on its part has also formed a group about two months back to set safety standards for Metro’s rolling stock (coaches).

“Metro already has its own standards for rolling stock. But this group is looking at what new measures can be incorporated to make it sound. For this the group is studying safety benchmarks followed by metro in other countries,” he said.

Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy said that the ministry would act only after it receives the inquiry report of the probe committee.

Hailing E. Sreedharan as the architect of Delhi Metro, Reddy said, “I won’t comment unless we get the report. We will take a view after we talk to Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Metro is a joint venture between Centre and Delhi government and Mr Sreedharan is the MD of DMRC is a nominee of the Delhi government. So any decision... will have to be taken in consultation with the CM.”