Pressure mounted on Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) to do away with their company’s name on the metro rail project, with the Shiv Sena joining the chorous to rename it as ‘Mumbai Metro’.
In a letter to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, the party said that the city’s first metro line should not be called ‘Reliance Metro’, referring to the logos at all metro stations.
Sena MLA Subhash Desai said, “RInfra is not the owner of the project. They are playing the role of a developer and are into an agreement with government agencies.”
Another point of argument raised by Sena is that the state and the union governments have shared money for the project and public money has been utilised. Also, the special purpose vehicle created has RInfra, Veolia and MMRDA as partners. “Nowhere in the SPV’s name is the word ‘Reliance’ used,” added Desai.
The MMRDA has been in talks with RInfra officials for getting the name changed. RInfra says it has 74 per cent stake in the first line of 11.4 km, and therefore, it is their right to have it named as per their wish. RInfra had even said that “the Concession Agreement does not restrict in any manner regarding display of any name/logo by the Concessionaire (Rinfra).”
MMRDA and RInfra officials are likely to meet next week to discuss the issue.
Earlier, Sena’s ally Republican Party of India (RPI) too protested demanding renaming of the metro project.
