Hyderabad: Metro Rail to Falaknuma remains in limbo

Charminar: Even as Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) began its operations on the Corridor II, the 11-km stretch between Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), in February last year, the connectivity towards Falaknuma remains in limbo. The officials still remained unclear about the progress and tight lipped as it is believed that the lack of political will has become a major hindrance.

Even as connectivity to two major bus stations of the city turned one year, the residents of Old City have once again started questioning about the progress of the 6-km stretch from MGBS to Falaknuma.

"The times have changed. The Old City and the people are eagerly waiting for a metro service. Several developmental projects are being taken up in other sides of the city including metro service, but the purana sheher remains the same," said Mohammed Tariq in frustration. He said he has been waiting for the Metro in Old City for the last 5-6 years, but it seems it was just a political gimmick."

"Earlier, the people in Old City were unaware of major developments. When compared to other areas, the Old City areas are still a decade old. Now there should be a metro corridor in the Old City," said Venkat Reddy, an IT employee. Many properties including residential and commercial assets in the stretch from Darulshifa, Mir Alam Mandi, Moghalpura via Shalibanda, Shamsheergunj to Falaknuma were marked for land acquisition. "Since the project was started, the government is only paying lip service, but nothing concrete has happened. We demand the authorities to announce the date of metro rail project and start project work in Old City," said K Venkatesh, senior Congress leader and JAC member.

According to the GHMC's Town Planning wing, last they heard about the metro and its developments was in November 2018 and began process of land acquisition of properties in collaboration with HMRL in full swing. After identifying some 1,100 properties for land acquisition and marking the properties also issuing notices, still no further developments have been taken up.

ET Narsimha, CPI leader and Old City Metro Jail JAC convenor, said that the government gave an assurance in several assembly sessions for the commencement of the metro corridor in Old City, but no initiative has been taken up. "It has been a year since the Corridor-II started functioning, there is no further progress. The government is keeping the project pending," he added. It may be mentioned here that in the last assembly session in March 2020, Minister K T Rama Rao also assured about the Metro corridor in Old City and stated to hold a meeting with the area MLAs but, no further progress. But it is believed that the lack of political will has put the issue under cold storage and local activists have also showed pessimism in completion of the stretch.

When contacted, NVS Reddy, Managing Director, Hyderabad Metro Rail, said that the matter was under consideration of the State government.