Hyderabad Metro delay irks Telangana chief secretary
There are over 500 properties yet to be acquired for metro work
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-03-25 09:10 GMT
Hyderabad: Telangana chief secretary Rajiv Sharma pulled up GHMC officials and collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts for not speeding up acquisition of properties to be handed over to Metro Rail. There are over 500 properties yet to be acquired. According to sources, “The problem is with officials in the revenue department. Those who inspect these properties alert the owner to protest or get a stay order from the court. Once the order comes, the lower officials are not giving clarity to the various departments. This is causing a lot of delay in acquiring the property.”
While 124 properties around the city have been acquired but they are still at the ‘cheque stage’ and the reason to not give out the cheque to the owner is not being clarified.
According to sources in the meeting, the chief secretary Rajiv Sharma came down heavily on the municipal commissioner Mr Somesh Kumar and asked him to look into the last stage aspect and what was the problem in clearing it.
At the same time, 50 government municipal properties are yet to be acquired across the city but the works are not being expedited. The explanation that they are ‘in process’ further angered Mr Sharma who has asked for a ‘list of properties and the stage of acquisition at which it is.’
The Land Acquisition officers have also been asked to give details of the legal hurdles so that the government of Telangana can take it up with the Advocate General and work towards an early disposal of the cases.
At the same time, the L & T Hyderabad Metro Rail has been asked to submit the feasibility reports of alternate alignment at the three locations, Old City, Assembly and Sultan Bazaar.
Mr Sharma has asked the L & T officers to expedite their techo-commercial study and give the implications at the earliest. L&T officers explained, “It’s a time-consuming process and we have to map the area properly, understand the number of people who are going to be affected due to re-alignment, new properties which will come in the way and also the new route where the train has to turn. These multiple aspects require a proper study and that is going to take some time.”