Metro rail to see green light in old city

Hyderabad: Metro rail will soon be a reality for Old City residents. Telangana Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister KT Rama Rao, on Thursday, assured the Legislative Assembly that metro services would be expanded to the Old City.

“Land acquisition has been a major hurdle in the process, and the TRS government engaged all stakeholders to arrive at an amicable solution for the metro route in Old City. The government is spending Rs 3,000 crore on land acquisition alone, while total spending so far was Rs 14,132 crore. Hyderabad Metro project has been completed very fast compared to other metros in the country. By December 2019, the total metro distance will be 66 km across the city,” said KTR. He further informed that receiving 80 awards is evidence of the performance of Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL).

GHMC officials already served notices to owners of the land, marked on the metro route. “We don’t have a problem relating to Quli Qutub Shah Urban Development Authority (QQDA) and GHMC’s properties. However, acquiring land from private individuals in sensitive areas has been a major challenge for the government,” said a senior official. Notably, the 5 km stretch from MGBS to Falaknuma has been put on hold, while the other two routes — LB Nagar to Miyapur and Nagole to Hitec City — became operational.

Another problem is the resistance to road widening. A large number of pushcart vendors and small shopkeepers are opposing the road widening works. It took a long time for the state government and political parties to convince the traders, observes the official. With the assurance from KTR, the metro works on MGBS-Falaknuma stretch in the Old City may begin in November.