Hope for Metro rail connectivity to Hyderabad’s old city

Hyderabad: There is finally some hope for Metro rail connectivity to the old city of Hyderabad with Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday directing the Municipal Administration department to take forward the long-pending project.

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K. T. Rama Rao said that the Chief Ministertold the Chairman of L&T, which is the agency executing the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project to expeditiously take up the works in the old city and promised all needed support.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, gave the direction during a meeting with a delegation of Muslim leaders including AIMIM President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

Though the meeting was primarily to urge KCR's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to oppose Uniform Civil Code, other issues of minority welfare and Metro Rail works in the old city were also discussed.

Owaisi told reporters after the meeting that schemes like overseas scholarship, loans by the Minority Finance Corporation and protection of Wakf properties were also discussed.

KCR promised that Rs 230 crore will be released in 4-5 days to ensure uninterrupted implementation of the schemes.

The Muslim leaders also raised the issue of reconstruction of mosques and other religious structures in the state Secretariat. These structures were demolished when the old buildings were pulled down to construct a new complex. They also reminded KCR of his promise to build an Islamic centre at Gachibowli in Hyderabad. The AIMIM has been demanding the government to take up Metro Rail work in the Old City which has been pending for the last five years.

Last year, the state government had allocated Rs 500 crore for the Metro line from Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) to Falaknuama under Corridor-II of 5.5 km.

L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) has completed the first phase of the Metro Rail project across three corridors to a total length of 69.2 km. While L. B. Nagar to Miyapur and Nagole to Raidurg corridors have been completed, the Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) to Falaknuma stretch is yet to be completed. On the third corridor, connectivity has been provided from JBS to MGBS.

The 73-km elevated metro is the biggest metro project in the world in public private partnership (PPP) model built at a total cost of Rs 20,000 crore.