Metro rail commuters keep fingers crossed over govt’s takeover move
Maintaining cleanliness, providing good service and keeping fares reasonable are some of the expectations from regular commuters
Hyderabad: Metro Rail users in the city feel that the state government might not manage the Metro Rail effectively and that it will lack proper maintenance. Users expressed that this decision of the government to take control of the Metro Rail is not a welcome move.
The metro rail users were also concerned regarding the increase in fares. Anushka Nath, a regular commuter said, “With taking over of Hyderabad Metro’s first phase by the Telangana government from L&T, I trust that the quality of service will be upheld; however, I am worried that the metro fares might see a significant rise. The ability of the state government to manage the system effectively is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed,” she said.
Similarly, various such Metro users showed a mixed response over the state government taking the first phase of the Metro Rail from L&T. Metro Rail achieved an impressive ridership of over 5.6 lakh daily passengers at peak last year. An activist Sai Teja said that the Telangana government is taking control of the Metro rail from L&T raises concerns due to existing debts owed to the government, which amount to between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000 crore.
“I doubt the government’s ability to manage this efficiently, especially since the project was originally designed as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, which is crucial for its success. Moreover, I worry that standards of cleanliness and maintenance will decline if the project is handed over to the government.”
The activist said, “Looking at other projects, those that maintain a partnership under the PPP model tend to perform better than those solely managed by the government. Therefore, I believe this move is not a positive one from my perspective”.
A frequent user, Ibrahim Ali, said that the news had surprised him, as he is a daily traveler of metro. “Currently, we find it hard to envision the future of the Hyderabad metro. Compared to other states, our metro system was among the best and was well-maintained. However, in the days ahead, we must wait and see what will unfold.”
On Thursday, the Telangana government announced that it would take over Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase 1 from infrastructure major L&T Group. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy took the important decision of taking control of the metro rail services at a meeting held with the company representatives.
