Hyderabad: The city’s beautification initiatives have seen the active participation of several government departments but that of Hyderabad metro rail is conspicuous absent. This is despite it being a swanky public transport medium.
The common pretext of the metro authorities has been ‘running in losses and hardly any money to spend’. Not ironically, the two parties involved in running the metro, L & T and HMRL, shift the responsibility and the blame on one another.
The civic authorities spent around Rs.150 crore for beautifying 224 structures across the twin cities. The visual treat has drawn praise from the people and the tourists.
A senior HMRL official said, “The organisation is faced with paucity of funds, especially for spending on other activities. This is in a public private partnership (PPP) mode. Moreover, nowhere in India can you find pillars and outside of Metro Rail stations any eye-pleasing art works. The beautiful paintings that you see on Begumpet metro pillars were done back in 2018,” he said.
This remark stands exposed when we consider the Phase 2 plans of Chennai Metro Rail. To commemorate its first train between Ponnamallee and Poror, the authorities have started painting its pillars as part of the city beautification.
In 2023 September, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation beautified its Metro stations and pillars with amazing paintings ahead of the G20 Summit.
Meanwhile, a L&T Metro Rail official said “The beautification has to be taken up by HMRL’s. Our role is painting the structure and advertising. These responsibilities have been defined quite appropriately.”
