Railways Has Approved Outer Ring Rail Around Hyd: Kishan

Hyderabad: Union minister of tourism and culture G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday announced that an outer ring rail on the exterior periphery of the regional ring road around Hyderabad with a bypass-cum-rail over rail at Akkanapet, Yadadri, Chityal, Burgula, Vikarabad and Gate Vanampalli will be coming up soon.

Towards this, the railway ministry has sanctioned a final location survey (FLS), he said.

“This first-of-its-kind project by Indian railways will revolutionise travel in Hyderabad and its peripheral region”, the union minister stated while stating that the railways has sanctioned ₹13.95 crore for FLS.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Reddy said that the project is not only envisaged to avoid congestion at important railway terminals in the city region, including Secunderabad, Kacheguda, Hyderabad and Lingamapally but also to network socio-economically backward regions of Telangana.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways has approved 100% funding for extending MMTS Phase-II by a length of 33 km between Ghatkesar and Raigir at a cost of ₹330 crore, he pointed out.

“Although, the state government was to bear two-thirds of the project cost, the Centre has decided to go ahead with 100% funding due to the dilly-dallying by the state government,” he said.

Meanwhile, FLS has also been sanctioned for the 61-km Karimnagar - Hasanparthi broad-gauge line at a cost of ₹1.5 crore.

The minister said “The Union Government has so far approved capital expenditure of ₹5,221.92 crore on the capital projects and also released ₹4,144.50 crore under the scheme for special assistance to states for capital expenditure/investment in the financial years 2020-21 to 2023-24 to the State”.

Under the scheme, special assistance is provided to state governments in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan.

Meanwhile, Reddy urged Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to complete the mutation process for the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Genome Valley. The NCDC branch will provide a state-of-art laboratory and diagnostic support in the diagnosis of emerging and re-emerging diseases. The Union minister stated that as ₹1.6 crore in revenue tax remains unpaid by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the mutation could not be completed.

Speaking about other issues, Kishan Reddy said that the regional centre of World Tourism Organization (WTO) will shortly be set up in New Delhi.

The G20 tourism ministers’ conference at Goa was a huge success, he said. As part of an invigorated Goa roadmap, they have drawn up an action plan to bolster international tourism, he said.

In order to give fillip to Indian tourism, a global tourism investors summit will be held in New Delhi in September, he said.