Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Managing Director E. Sreedharan has urged the State government to pursue the Phase-II expansion of the Chennai metro rail network. Observing that there has been a “violent shift” in policy ever since the new government came to power in the State, he said that the plan to cover the entire city with a monorail system is “misguided”. In a letter to the Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, Mr. Sreedharan said that though three possible corridors have already been identified by DMRC, which is the principal consultant for the Chennai Metro project, the official go-ahead for starting the detailed project report (DPR) for the next phase is still awaited. (In the first phase, two corridors totalling 45.08 km are being built in the city). DMRC has also submitted a DPR for extending Corridor-I from Washemenpet to Wimco Nagar, a distance of nine km, at an estimated cost of Rs.2,240 crore on December 20, 2010. “It is understood that for want of a directive from the State government, CMRL has not processed this extension, though badly needed, to the Government of India for inclusion in Phase-I,” he said. “Chennai has a population of over eight million. For this level of population, a large metro network is inevitable as the backbone of the public transport system. Monorail can, at best, only function as a feeder system,” Mr.Sreedharan, who is set to retire this month, said.