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Metro Rail project at snail’s pace
According to a RTI application, the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Ltd has still not received the feasibility report from L&T MRHL, the concessionaire executing the project. The government is yet to take a decision on the realignment issue at Sultan Bazaar, near Assembly and in the Old City.
Hyderabad: According to a RTI application, the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Ltd has still not received the feasibility report from L&T MRHL, the concessionaire executing the project. The government is yet to take a decision on the realignment issue at Sultan Bazaar, near Assembly and in the Old City.
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It is more than 15 months since the issue had come up for the consideration but the government is yet to take a decision. The project cost is bound to escalate by another Rs 700 crore. According to sources, the L&T officials claim that they submitted a technical feasibility report in May but HMR officials refuted it.
M Srinivas, secretary, Greater Hyderabad central city committee, CPI (M) says, “The State government is failing its citizens by not taking a decision. On two occasions-on June 14, 2014 and December 9, 2014, the government promised to take a decision. The delay is going to cost the public exchequer and the escalation of the cost can only be decided after the feasibility report is made public.”
Syed Altaf Rizvi, MLC says, “It is a foregone conclusion that the Metro Rail cannot chug through the Old City. More than 1,000 private properties would be affected. Between Aza Khana Zehra and Daira-e-Mir-Momin there are several religious structures that date back to hundreds of years. We cannot fathom why it is taking so long for the government to take a decision.”
Serious doubts have been raised on the project deadline going by the delay in deciding on the realignment on three routes. Experts and social scientists fear that the 72 km project may not be completed by 2017.The most contentious change is in the Old City as the MIM party does not want the metro to go through the heart of the old city but rather wants it to go through Puranapul, Muslimjung, Zoo Park, Kalapathar and Shamsheergunj. The distance would increase by 3.2 km that way.
The MIM party workers argue that the escalation in cost would not be much considering the fact that thegovernment would anyway have to pay compensation to the property owners and more importantly the heritage structures would be saved.
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