Sidelined for inauguration, former Kerala CM Chandy to take metro ride Tuesday

Chandy, however, kept mum about his exclusion from the main list of special invitees.

Thiruvananthapuram, June 19: Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who did not attend Saturday's Kochi Metro inauguration after being kept out of the main list of invitees, will take his first ride on the Metro along with all UDF legislators on Tuesday.

Chandy's being kept out of the main list of special invitees alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised eyebrows, as it was during his tenure 2011-2016 that practically every aspect of the metro, including the inking of the agreement, commencement of the work and the trial run was completed.

Chandy, however, kept mum about his exclusion from the main list of special invitees. Though he was given an invite to be seated among the audience, he did not attend the event.

The Congress is planning to make the Kochi metro ride a major event.

Work on Kochi Metro began in 2012 after the Oommen Chandy government entrusted the project to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, with its principal advisor Sreedharan overseeing it.

The first phase is 25 km long of which 13 km is completed and its commercial operations have begun.

People queue up for maiden ride

People queued up from early morning to take their first ride on the Kochi Metro that began its commercial operations here on Monday.

The maximum rush was witnessed at the two starting points - one at Aluva and the other at Palarivatom metro stations.

IANS