Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Congress Government and Hyderabad Airport Metro Limited (HAML) of neglecting 40% of the population by ignoring North Hyderabad regions - like Medchal, Alwal, Keesara and others where already a substantial number of the poor and middle class reside - for the proposed next phase of the metro rail construction.
Include four routes in the Phase-II
In a communication to the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Development Manoharlal Khattar on Tuesday (November 5, 2024), senior party leader S Malla Reddy, also the Medchal Urban district in-charge president, has called for inclusion of four new routes in the phase-II proposals. These include: 1) Balanagar-Shaurnagar-Suraram-Gandimaisamma, (2)Bowenpally-Suchitra-Kompally-Medchal, (3) Jubilee Bus Station-Alwal-Tumkunta, (4) Tarnaka-ECIL X Roads-Nagaram-Keesara.
Mr. Reddy informed the Union Minister that not a single corridor has been considered in the above mentioned routes indicating a ‘partisan attitude and negligence’ towards North Hyderabad despite people living in the areas craving for a reliable and eco-friendly public transport system for decades.
The Centre should direct the Telangana Government to include above mentioned corridors before its approval for the proposed Joint Venture (JV) project to be taken at 50:50 cost sharing basis. The Government had earlier issued an official order for the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project Phase-II ‘Part A’ & ‘Part B’ for a length of about 116.4 km.
Part-A routes
Part A routes - mainly as extensions to the existing HMR phase one, include Corridor IV: Nagole – Shamshabad RGIA (Airport Corridor) spanning 36.8 km; Corridor V: Raidurg - Kokapet Neopolis spanning 11.6 km ; Corridor VI: MGBS Chandrayangutta (Old City Corridor) spanning 7.5 km; Corridor VII: Miyapur – Patancheru 13.4 km ; Corridor VIII: LB Nagar - Hayat Nagar 7.1 km for a total of 76.4 km estimated to cost ₹24,269 crore..
While the party has no issue with the proposed corridors, it has pointed out that the second phase has totally ignored North Hyderabad which connects to Medchal, Medak, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar districts.
‘Connecting to hypothetical Fourth City is not financially viable;
Mr. Reddy was especially sore that the region has not been considered in ‘Part B’ plan too for the second phase where the Government has proposed extending the metro rail from Shamshabad Airport to the Fourth City (Skill University) for a length of 40 km. “This corridor connects a hypothetical ‘Fourth City’ has no financial viability,” is his contention.
Telangana Government has stated that for the ‘Part B’ corridor, field surveys for the ‘fourth city’ are underway for alignment and towards preparing cost estimate. However, for ‘Part A’, for the 50:50 JV, the State government share will be ₹7,313 crore (30%); Centre’s share ₹4,230 crore (18%); Loan from JICA, ADB, NDB etc - ₹11,693 crore (48%); and PPP (public, private partnership component) - ₹1,033 crore (4%).
Published - November 05, 2024 03:35 pm IST
