Hyderabad: Five years after social activist Medha Patkar took to the streets leading an agitation against the Metro Rail project saying that the project would serve as a death knell to schools in Chadarghat, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited has put up an exhibition of pictures that shows that all such fears have been put to rest.
In 2012 December Medha Patkar took on the government for extending support to the project that could spell imminent doom to the future of school children of Chadarghat. She had called the government’s go-ahead as ‘government gunda gardi’. She had also visited Sultanbaazar and expressed solidarity with the traders.
Before and after pictures of the Kukatpally and Chanderghat government schools at the permanent photo exhibition put up at the new HMRL office in Rasoolpura, Begumpet. (Photo: DC)
The Hyderabad Metro Rail Project did pull down the dilapidated old school buildings but has built swank new school buildings in its place and has showcased this in the photo exhibition. The permanent photo exhibition which was recently put up at new HMRL office in Rasoolpura of Begumpet HMRL exhibited photographs of Medha Patkar agitating against the project stating that it is “affecting” the Chaderghat and Kukatpally government schools.
HMRL has also exhibited the pictures of old dilapidated buildings of schools in Chaderghat and Kukatpally as well as the newly constructed and completed buildings.
An HMR official said, “The photo exhibition is only to show the commitment of the project towards the city. National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements (NAPM) had also represented to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and stop the project. They said the schools would be demolished as part of the project. We rebuilt the dilapidated buildings and these look like corporate schools now.”
