Bs Reporter / Hyderabad September 24, 2008, 0:17 IST Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) has severed its ties with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) by mutual consent with immediate effect. The Andhra Pradesh government had earlier entered into a memorandum with DMRC appointing the latter as prime consultant for the Hyderabad metro project. The five-year contract was for Rs 19 crore. The state government has so far paid Rs 4 crore to DMRC. The development comes a day after the AP government demanded an unconditional apology from DMRC Managing Director E Sreedharan for his remarks on the HMRL project in his letter to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The state government has agreed to pay another Rs 85 lakh for the consultancy services offered by DMRC till date, said HMRL Managing Director NVS Reddy. DMRC has been involved with the Hyderabad project in structuring the detailed project report. It also nominated its senior officials as committee members for evaluation of the bids and other aspects of the project. In place of Prime Consultants, HMRL has decided to have independent engineers. It is now making a request for proposal for inviting global consultancies for filling the void after the DMRC exit.