Hyderabad metro: No decision on old city route
Hyderabad: The Sultan Bazaar Metro Rail route on Corridor 3 — Gandhi Hospital, Musheerabad, RTC Crossroads, Chikkadpally, Narayanguda, Sultan Bazaar and MG Bus Station — will remain as it is.
The Old City route, however, has still not been decided and is under consideration. The proposed change on that stretch is to take the route along the Musi River, Bahadurpura, Kalapathar to Falaknuma. The original alignment was Darulshifa, Miralam Mandi, Etebar Chowk, Moghalpura and other densely populated areas.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had announced in the Legislative Assembly in June 2014 that he would not allow the Metro Rail to pass through Sultan Bazaar and Assembly and that the routes would be realigned. But 16 months later, the government has asked L&T Metro Rail to go ahead according to the original plan.
L&T, meanwhile, has not disclosed the monetory loss due to this 16-month delay. Officers say that they had 72 km to work on and they had been concentrating on the “clear” areas rather than those which were “in continuous discussions”.
THE ROUTES
- Feasibility studies were carried out at Red Hills and even at Sultan Bazaar by L&T Metro Rail and the technical team had opined that turning the train from Lakdi-ka-Pul, and even at Koti Women’s College, would entail a lot of challenges.
- Similarly, the route suggested at Old City was not acceptable to L&T. Sources say that the Metro will not penetrate the Old City and will end at the MGBS bus station.
- The earlier stand of L&T Metro Rail and HMR, to start small stretches and check on the feasibility of the project, is now being negated. They state that they will start maximum stretches so that more people can benefit. However, the project has not yet got the Railway Safety certificate, which the state government has to apply for.
Traders call for a bandh
The Sultan Bazaar Traders Association has called for a bandh on Friday following the announcement by L&T Metro that the Metro Rail will be built on the original route. Upset by the announcement, the traders held an urgent meeting and demanded that the government clarify its position.
C. Madhusudhan Rao of the association said that 300 traders and 500 hawkers would be affected. “The state government has not come out clearly with its stand. It is only the concessionaire who is talking, which is very confusing,” he said. He said association leaders have not been given an appointment to meet government officials on the matter.
Date not yet fixed for metro start
L&T Metro Rail managing director V.B. Gadgil said that no date had been fixed to start the service. “We have to complete the project and we are concentrating on that,” Mr Gadgil said on Thursday. The earlier plan was to start the service on small stretches and familiarise commuters with the service, but L&T now says that the deadline for the project is 2017. Asked when the services would start, Mr Gadgil said, “We are not making any announcements today.”
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