HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) have got into a tussle over pavements near Metro Rail stations.
While HMRL is maintaining pavements at Metro stations along two corridors from Nagole to Miyapur and LB Nagar to Raidurg, it has not shown similar interest when it comes to the Metro line between JBS and MGBS. Corporation officials have taken the stand that there must be a uniform policy and HMRL cannot ignore MGBS-JBS line.
It was HMRL that came up with a proposal to take over 600 metre footpaths (300 metre from stations on both sides) at select metro stations to monetise them by setting up kiosks. Lease holders of such kiosks run a variety of businesses, including vending vegetables and selling pizzas. Metro authorities thus started maintaining pavements along Nagole-Miyapur and L. B. Nagar-Raidurg corridors, which had started earlier. But they did not show similar interest in JBS-MGBS, as footpaths along stations on this corridor are narrow and cannot accommodate kiosks. Following this, HMRL requested GHMC to maintain the footpaths along this corridor.
On their part, civic authorities feel Metro authorities cannot shirk responsibility just because maintenance of footpaths near stations along one of the three corridors is not profitable for them. GHMC sources point out that HMRL has highly monetised swanky kiosks in areas like Miyapur, Hitec City and other areas.
HMRL representatives maintain that on an average it costs them Rs. 2 crore on beautification of pavements at each metro station.
The tussle between GHMC and HMRL has caught the attention of municipal administration and urban development minister K. T. Rama Rao. The latter has reportedly asked Metro authorities to maintain pavements along all three metro corridors. However, no formal notes have been exchanged in this regard.
Ironically, both HMRL and GHMC are fighting over space that essentially must be for convenience of pedestrians. Money comes first for them than people who use the pavements.
