Old city peeps pins hope on Metro rail project this FY

Hyderabad: Even after allocating the same budget for the Metro rail for the last two years, the State government is yet to come up with further developments in the project. Though the survey was conducted last June, no concrete plans are prepared till date. However, the people from the Old city pinned hope that the Metro Rail works would be carried out in this current financial year as the assembly election is due this year.

Following an uproar over the expansion of Hyderabad Metro Rail, the Telangana government allocated Rs 1,500 crore for the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), including Rs 500 crore for extending Metro Rail services to the Old city. The long-pending Metro Rail phase in Old city in the current Financial Year budget has now stepped on it.

It is said that the opposition parties, also Old city Metro Rail JAC, blames Majlis for not pitching the government for Metro in the Old city. However, on several occasions the MIM MLAs have been proposing for the Metro in the assembly house. In recent times, the party chief and floor leader also gave a representation to the government and HMR to take up the metro works. Following the continuing backing of the project and supporting the government, with the upcoming assembly elections the works would be taken up. During the 2018 assembly elections, the State government also announced plans to expand the Metro rail in the Old City route from MGBS, Imlibun to Falaknuma of Corridor II (Green Line) of 5.5 km.

The residents of Old City with a larger population density were hoping that they will get Metro Rail connectivity and said that Hyderabad city, including the Old city, is seeing development and better infrastructure for the last few years. Now the government may step into the Metro project in Old city.

"The government is aiming to achieve the top position in the country by providing better infrastructure in all aspects and also expanding Metro to the Hyderabad Airport. The Old city citizens hoped that in the current financial year and upcoming elections Metro services should begin in the Old City to bridge the development gap," said Murtuza Mohsin, a software engineer and resident of Moghalpura.

However, no concrete plans are prepared by the officials yet to bring the Metro in Old city. Sources said that in June 2022, a survey including the survey of underground utilities including drains, electricity lines was successfully done by the officials in the MGBS-Falaknuma stretch which costed around Rs 12 lakh. However, since then there has been no further development in the project. The sources said a Rs 500 crore budget was allocated for this 5.5 km corridor, but it was never made available to start the development works of the metro rail on this corridor.

As per the detailed project report of the Metro in Old city, the proposed Metro reaches Darulshifa after crossing the MGBS. The route goes along the Mir Alam Mandi up to Shalibanda x road and till Falaknuma. It was slated to have stops at the Charminar, Shalibanda, Shamsheergunj, Jangammet and Falaknuma.

The Metro Rail project in Hyderabad city was launched during the tenure of Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy in the year 2012 and in its first phase, the government approved a 5.5 km long corridor from Mahatma Gandhi Bus Stop (Imlibun) to Falaknuma Palace in the Old city.