Hyderabad: The proposed service road along the Metro Rail corridor from Nagole will be taken up on an immediate basis by the Hyderabad Metro Rail. Residents, meanwhile, wonder how a service road will come up at Habsiguda, Tarnaka and Mettuguda as these areas are packed with commercial and residential complexes.
The Nagole to Mettuguda stretch will be operational from March 2015 and HMR has unveiled plans of bus-bays and parking bays for autorickshaws and private vehicles.
While these plans are on paper, there will be problems on the ground level. The Uppal and Nagole stations have space, but the stations of Survey of India, NGRI, Tarnaka and Mettuguda are in congested areas.
P.L. Menon, general secretary of Senior Citizens’ Forum at Tarnaka, said, “There are government lands at Survey of India, NGRI, Osmania University and National Institute of Nutrition stations, and these spaces can be utilised only on one side. On the other side, there are residential and commercial complexes. The by-lanes will be choked with vehicles.”
As the Metro stations are on the road, escalators and staircases will touch the road and footpaths will be made. But how will commuters reach the Metro station if there is a road on that side?
A senior citizen of Tarnaka said, “Right now, the space where the machines, equipment and Metro workers are sitting is blocked. Once that is cleared, if they make it into a service road, where is the place for a footpath or parking spots? Are they then going to take up further road widening?”
Chillekani Rao of the Metro Rail Commuters’ Association said, “HMR must decide in consultation with the residents in the areas. If they have to create space in the by-lanes, they will have to ensure that it is systematic.”
Professor Tirupathi of Nagarjuna Welfare Association, said, “On the ground level, residents are confused. There are already vehicles plying on the by-lanes. The roads are wide, but not so wide that parking spaces can be carved out of them.”
