Hyderabad: Larsen & Toubro, the firm behind the Hyderabad Metro Rail, has now pinned its hopes on the Centre to resolve its dispute with the Telangana government over realignment of the Metro route to avoid passing close to the heritage structures in the city.
The company is not in favour of any modification to the project at this stage, and is learnt to have taken up the issue with the Union urban development ministry and the Union finance ministry. The company has urged the Centre to resolve the issue at the earliest, as works have been stalled at various locations near the Legislative Assembly, Moazam Jahi Market etc.
These issues are expected to come up for discussion at the meeting convened by the Union finance secretary at New Delhi on July 25. Officials from L&T and HMR as well as Union urban development ministry will participate in the meeting.
Though officials are calling it a “regular meeting,” it has assumed significance in the backdrop of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao making a statement in the Assembly that his government will not allow demolition of heritage markets for the Metro. The CM had said that the officials should consider other options such as “underground Metro lines” wherever needed.
However, L&T has been opposing the “underground” idea saying that it will escalate the project cost and would make the Metro “financially unviable.” The project cost has already crossed Rs 17,000 crore and the company is not willing to spend more. L&T is also not in favour of realigning the route as the existing routes were planned after undertaking extensive surveys.
