Metro corridors to be extended to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad

Hyderabad: K.T. Rama Rao, the minister for municipal administration and urban development, said on Tuesday that all three metro rail corridors would be extended to reach the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly during Question Hour, Mr Rao said metro rail facilities would be made available in Old City in 2018. He said that connectivity from JBS in Secunderabad, to MGBS in Gowliguda would be provided by August.

Of the 72-km length of the metro rail project, he said 66 km would be commissioned by the end of December.

MIM leader Akbar-uddin Owaisi and BJP leader Kishan Reddy expressed resentment against the government for the delay in the execution of metro rail works in Old City.

The BJP staged a walkout to protest the government’s failure to bring the metro to Old City even four years after coming to power.

However, Mr Rao said that there had been a delay because religious structures had been in the way of the proposed route. He added that the issue had been resolved by redesigning the project. “There are 103 religious structures in the way of the metro in Old City. About 25 of these were to have been affected, but that number has been reduced to just four after redesigning and proposing other measures such as road widening. Since it is a sensitive matter, we were conducting negotiations with the stakeholders, and that took some time,” he said.

He lashed out at the BJP for politicising the Metro. “We are not that narrow-minded. We waited for months for an appointment from PM Modi to inaugurate Metro, despite the 30-km stretch having been completed long before.”