Falaknuma Metro stretch hits land acquisition hitch

Hyderabad: Work on the six-km MGBS-Falaknuma stretch of Metro Rail continues to be in limbo as property acquisition and land clearance has still not been completed, even as the services are up and running in the other sectors.

With the work at Raidurg having been completed, the construction department of L&T Metro Rail will have to wait till the clearances are secured before they can begin work on the stretch.

A senior member of L&T Metro Rail explained, “There are no steps being taken by the government and the company is not pursuing the matter with them. Earlier there would be regular meetings and discussions on the three corridors but after the work got completed till MGBS, it has come to a standstill. We do not have any inputs for the right of way. Till that is finalised, work on that stretch cannot be completed.”

There is opposition to the MGBS-Falaknuma stretch because more than 1,000 properties will be affected in the acquisition process.

Metro Rail had revised the plans last year but still there was no headway as the clearance has to be given by the state urban development department after considering the opinion of traffic and heritage departments.

The issue is being pursued at the government level, claimed senior officers of HMRL but the executing partner, L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail, has stopped aggressively pursuing the issue.

A senior officer of L&T Metro Rail explained, “We are having a lot of internal issues with Metro Rail. There are mounting losses, operating and maintenance costs and we are concentrating on train operations for now.”

With the Raidurg stretch being completed, services on the Hitec City-Raidurg and Parade Ground-Falaknuma services are expected to be started by September.