Hyderabad Metro Rail gets defence land

Hyderabad: Some 2.15 acres of defence land near Parade Grounds has been transferred to the Hyderabad Metro Rail for construction of the metro. The land, which is in front of the Ganesh temple in Secunderabad, will be handed over to HMR, and in turn the HMR will transfer 1.68 acres of land at Old Gandhi Hospital to the defence ministry and also construct a 60,000 sq ft Sainik Aramghar there at its own cost.

This clearance by the defence ministry at this juncture comes as a relief to metro authorities since the 2.23 km stretch was creating complications.

Defence minister Arun Jaitley sorted out the issue which has been lingering for the last four years. The Parade Grounds Metro station will be constructed on the land given by the defence ministry, and it will also be easy now to connect corridor II and III. The two corridors will meet at this junction.

There are several engineering challenges in the construction of the Parade Ground interchange station and it will take a minimum of two years to complete this stretch, explained a senior officer of L&T, the builder and operator of the metro project. “Construction of a viaduct from Maredapally to Secunderabad PG College can be started now. The pillars are to be constructed at Jubilee Bus Stand and connected to Parade Ground,” the officer said.

The most challenging section of the metro is a double level elevated structure that will cross the Hari Hara Kala Bhavan flyover. The defence ministry has also permitted the use of 3.65 acres of defence land for the construction of the metro pillars and viaduct on a long term basis as per the annual license fee structure of the defence ministry.