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Will see Hyderabad Metro Rail chugs into Old City
Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister K T Rama Rao said the government is committed to extend the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Project to old city and asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not to make it a political issue.
Hyderabad: Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister K T Rama Rao said the government is committed to extend the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Project to old city and asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not to make it a political issue.
Responding to a question during the question hour in the Assembly here on Tuesday, the Minister said out of the 72 km planned in the first phase, commercial operations of the HMR already commenced on a stretch of 30 km. The overall progress of the project is 85 per cent and 60 km would be completed by the end of the current year.
He said the Delhi Metro Rail Limited (DMRL) submitted Preliminary Project Report (PPR) and is presently carrying out field surveys to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for phase-II.. He said works are going on at a brisk pace between Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and
Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) corridor. This is part of the stretch between JBS –Falaknuma, he added.
Attributing delay in the works, he said there are 25 religiously sensitive structures which would have been affected by the HMR alignment between the MGBS-Falaknuma. However, through engineering solutions the number had been brought down to four, Rama Rao said. Also, efforts would be made to ensure that there would not be any damage to the four structures.
Answering to specific points raised by MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi and BJP floor leader G Kishan Reddy, the MA&UD Minister said following the directions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao it was decided not only the Hitec city but also, Nagole, Falaknuma stretches would be connected to the airport. The original cost of the project was Rs 14,132 crore and out of which, the State government will have to bear Rs 3,000 crore. So far, Rs 2,296 crore had been paid towards the State government’s share in the last five-year, he said.
Similarly, the company had also claimed the viability gap funding of Rs 1,458 crore. Out of this, the Centre had paid Rs 1,204 crore as per the eligibility, he added. There are claims and counter-claims on the increase of costs. However, no finality has been reached so far, he said. Depending on the availability, there is a maximum availability of 200 feet right of way in places like Miyapur. And, the lowest width of 60 feet is available at Sultan Bazaar, he added. However, the ideal and practical width is kept at 80 to 100 feet for a two-way metro line, he said.
Dismissing fears, Rama Rao said, even if the L&T does not want to take up the Falaknuma stretch, the State government will ensure its completion. He also assured to hold a meeting with the MLAs from the city on the alignment of the metro in the old city.
However, not satisfied with the answer, the BJP staged a protest and walked out alleging that the TRS was like the Congress. TRS also deprived the rights of the residents of the old city by delaying extension of the metro project to the old city.
