Civil society dares HMRL for public debate

The fight between Citizens for a Better Public Transport in Hyderabad, a coalition of civil society organisations and individuals, and Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) on acquisition of lands to execute the project got intensified on Friday with the former challenging the latter for a public debate on the excess lands it possessed.

The convener of the organization, C Ramachandraiah, said in a press release that the HMRL and L&T Metro had taken 71 acres of excess lands which were not mentioned in the concession agreement. He asked as to why the implementing agencies preferred to hide the information and did not put the same on their websites.

It was nothing but a daylight robbery of precious public lands worth crores of rupees, he rued. Alleging that HMRL had hoodwinked people by covering up the issue, though the civil organizations made a hue and cry, he demanded that HMRL MD NVS Reddy and L&T Metro MD V B Gadgil make public the concession agreement, lands promised in the agreement and lands allocated, complete designs of the intersections of corridors with one another at three places. The organization also made a fervent appeal to ‘brand ambassadors’ of the metro project to read the concession agreement and understand it before competing in these events.