Congress Questions BRS's Sincerity On Metro Rail In Old City

Congress senior leader and TPCC Political Affairs Committee (PAC) Convener Mohammed Ali Shabbir today questioned the sincerity of the BRS government in its commitment to provide Metro Rail connectivity to the Old City of Hyderabad.

Shabbir Ali also said that the previous Congress government had initially approved a 72-km Phase-1 metro rail project which included a corridor connecting MGBS-Imlibun to Falaknuma, a 5.5-km stretch on the green line. However, the BRS government halted the Old City corridor while completing the rest of the 67 km and commencing operations.

The government's announcement now of issuing land acquisition notices in a month to 1,000 properties in the Old City was a tactic to delay the project until the announcement of the Assembly elections, Shabbir Ali said, and accused the government of intending to credit the non-existent project to the BRS' ally the MIM in order to mislead the people in the run-up to the next elections.

Shabbir Ali asked why the BRS government waited until the election period to issue notices for land acquisition if it genuinely intended to bring Metro Rail connectivity to the Old City. He also highlighted that the State government had not taken any action in the past nine years to resolve the various issues that had been cited as reasons for the delay, such as property acquisition and demands for a change in route alignment.

The senior Congress leader also pointed out that the State government had allocated Rs 500 crore in its annual budgets twice for the Metro Rail connectivity in the Old City, but that no agreement had been signed between the government and the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) to date.

He also asked how the HMRL could begin construction without a Detailed Project Report and proper financial disclosure.

"The estimated cost of the project is over Rs 2,000 crore, but the HMRL has been misleading the public by suggesting that it could be completed within the allocated Rs 500 crore. Additionally, the finance department has not yet released the allocated funds to the HMRL. Despite this, the BRS government forced the HMRL to issue a statement regarding the commencement of the project," he alleged, and said that everything pointed to a lack of intent behind the announcement.