KTR prods officials for City-RGIA Metro line

Hyderabad: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao directed the Metro Rail officials to prepare plans to provide connectivity to airport from different places in the city. The Metro authorities would soon call tenders for multi-level parking places at Metro stations.

The MAUD Minister on Tuesday reviewed the Metro Rail works and gave several instructions. The Minister asked the officials to increase the frequency of Metro trains apart from increasing the speed and added that by increasing speed, the travel time would decrease further. He asked the officials to prepare plans to provide connectivity to RGI Airport at Shamshabad from different parts of the city.

The Metro Rail authorities informed the Minister that the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) had good patronage compared to the Chennai Metro Rail during the last two years. The number of passengers in Hyderabad Metro had been on a higher side and encouraging and that the Metro run had been seamless right from the inauguration to till date, said HMR MD N V S Reddy. Rama Rao asked the officials to bring in more facilities in Metro Rail tickets by initiating talks with the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).

He asked the officials to explore the possibilities of running electric buses through organisations like Setwin. He asked the officials to explore possibility of starting 100 electric buses. He instructed the officials to speed up the works pertaining to parking and footpaths. The officials informed that tenders would be called for 12 multilevel parking facilities soon and the tendering process near the Nampally Metro Rail station would be completed within ten days.

The officials informed the Minister that Hyderabad Cricket Association had shown interest in having a sky-walk from Uppal cricket stadium to the nearest Metro Rail station. The official also informed that there was a need to have toilets across the corridors and works were on in full swing.

The Minister enquired about the ongoing works across the Metro corridors. The works on the Ameerpet- Hitec city stretch were on full swing. The Minister also spoke on the second phase of Metro and directed the officials to prepare a report on selection of corridors, identification of stations, funds and other issues. Rama Rao told the officials that he would soon take up a review on this and wanted the officials to be prepared with the report. MAUD secretary Arvind Kumar, HMR MD NVS Reddy and others participated in the meeting.