Telangana Government likely to come to HMRL rescue

Hyderabad: The State government is likely to come to the rescue of L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd by accepting the suggestions of the Cabinet Sub-Committee which looked into issues concerning the HMRL. This was hinted at by Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar at an informal interaction with the media here on Thursday. He said the government was ready to support Metro.

The minister stated that on an average four lakh passengers should travel in the Metro Rail everyday if the entity has to survive. The company was given land for commercial exploitation, but it could not make use of it, he opined.

According to the 2019-20 annual report of L&TMRHL, the company had suffered a net loss of Rs 382 crore in the last financial year. The total revenues stood at Rs 1,370 crore. The company suffered Rs 300-crore loss during the lockdown for 169 days.

Sources said that the government does not want the matter to enter court where it would have to be compelled to pay as per court's direction. Instead, the government is likely to offer a bailout proposal after getting a report from the Cabinet Sub-committee.

The sub-committee is slated to give its report to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao soon. The matter was placed before the Cabinet on January 17, when the CM is said to have agreed to the proposal of the Municipal Administration department for consideration of the concerns and requests of L&TMRHL to address the financial stress of the project.