PNS|Hyderabad
Senior Congress leader TPCC Political Affairs Committee (PAC) Convener Mohammed Ali Shabbir has questioned the sincerity behind the BRS government’s assurance to provide Metro Rail connectivity to the Old City of Hyderabad.
In a media statement on Monday, Shabbir said that the government’s announcement that it would issue land acquisition notices in a month to 1,000 properties in the Old City was a tactic to delay the project until the announcement of Assembly elections.
He accused the government of planning to credit the non-existent project to its ally AIMIM in order to mislead people during elections.
Shabbir highlighted the fact that the government had allocated Rs 500 crore in its annual budgets twice for Metro Rail in the Old City. But no agreement has been signed between the government and the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL), he said.
He asked how the HMRL could begin construction without a Detailed Project Report and proper financial closure. The estimated cost of the project is over Rs 2,000 crore, but the HMRL had been misleading the public by suggesting that it could be completed with the allocated Rs 500 crore.
Shabbir said the Finance Department had not released the allotted funds to HMRL. Despite this, the BRS Government forced HMRL to issue a statement regarding the commencement of the project, he said.
He said that the Congress government had initially approved a 72-km phase-1 metro project, which included a corridor connecting MGBS–Imlibun to Falaknuma, a 5.5 km stretch on the Green Line. But the BRS government halted the Old City corridor and completed the rest of the 67 km and commenced operations.
Shabbir asked why the BRS government waited until election time to issue notices for land acquisition if it had genuinely intended to bring Metro Rail to the Old City.
He also said that the Government had not taken any action in the last nine years to resolve the issues that had been cited as reasons for the delay, like land acquisition and demands for a change in the metro’s route alignment.
He emphasised that the government should have extended the project beyond Falaknuma as the 5.5 km stretch from Imlibun to Falaknuma would not be financially viable and that another corridor should be simultaneously developed connecting Falaknuma to the RGI Airport.
Shabbir said that current claims about the Metro Rail project in the Old City were a mere deception and a political game orchestrated by the AIMIM and BRS with elections in mind.
He said that the 67-km stretch of the Metro Rail project was constructed as it had received approvals and funding from both the State and the Centre. However, he pointed out that the present proposal lacked funding or involvement of the Centre or financial agencies.
Shabbir expressed the concern that contractors might find it impractical to execute a project that lacks funding guarantees.
Expressing doubts about the progress of the Metro Rail project in the Old City, Shabbir said that the BRS government might create legal complications to halt the project.
He said the recent announcement is nothing but an election gimmick aimed at helping the AIMIM, as it is facing public anger for the lack of development in the Old City.
