Metro Rail: Sultan Bazaar traders on tenterhooks

Hyderabad: With the Metro Rail realignment issue hanging in balance, the Sultan Bazaar traders are having sleepless nights. While the decision on the realignment is still pending and talks between the Chief Secretary of Telangana Rajiv Sharma and Cabinet Secretary Ajith Seth and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nrupendra Misra are on, the possibility of ratification of the original routes as per the concession agreement signed by the State government and Larson and Toubro, is yet uncertain.

Kishen Yadav, president, Sultan Bazaar Traders’ Joint Action Committee says, “We will not budge an inch and our agitation will go on. A total of 242 properties will be affected and thousands will be unemployed.” Land acquisition is going to be a huge problem if the Metro Rail is to go as per the original plan. In corridor-1, between Miyapur and L B Nagar only 225 of the 421 properties have been acquired so far.

In corridor-2, between JBS and Falaknuma, 311 out of 479 have been acquired and in corridor-3, between Nagole and Shilparamam, 41 out of 285 properties have been acquired as on date. A trader who owns a shop in Badi Chowdi says, “Even if the government relents to the Centre and agrees on the original route, the land acquisition will be a long drawn process.” In the meanwhile, the Traders' Joint Action Committee members say that there is no way that they would agree and step up the agitation.