Larsen and Toubro (L&T) company rejects the TRS government's proposal of realignment of the metro route at the Sultan Bazar, as the company officials felt that, it would be a great loss commercially and also technically.
Sultan Bazar is considered as the historical sentiment of Hyderabadis and also many traders are carrying on their business, basing the area for years. So, in the beginning, when the metro project was announced in Hyderabad and it would pass through the Sultan Bazar, all the traders and the people, who felt sentimental to the place, opposed it. In fact, there are severe protests in those days, regarding the metro rail proposal passing through the Sultan Bazar.
Keeping this in mind, the TRS government is making all the efforts to convince the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) company to rethink on the proposal. The report submitted by the company officials in the department of municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) reads, the realignment proposed by the government to bypass Sultan Bazar is commercially unviable for the company which is building the project on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.
Compensation of Rs. 2000 crores!
One of the senior officials of L&T said, “the compensation amount is not yet finalized, but the figure would be somewhere around Rs. 2000 crores.” The company seems, negotiating with government regarding the compensation. If the compensation finalizes, then the proposed alignment by the government will not have any station at Sultan Bazar area. Whereas, the original alignment was planned to built two stations near the Sultan Bazar, so that it would be commercially beneficial to the company.
Alignment at assembly building
Coming to the alignment near the assembly building, the company gave a positive response to the government, but remained silent in the third realignment proposal, which is of the alignment near the old city.
Along with Sultan Bazar, there are totally three alignments, which the TRS government proposed to L&T. As said above, the other two are, assembly and old city. The two places, being sentimental to Hyderabadis, the government is making efforts to get the nod for the realignment proposed to the L&T company. But, Old city proposal acceptance is still awaiting.
Not land, we want money- L&T
The government expected that the company would ask land as the compensation, but it is insisting on the monetary compensation itself. After the bifurcation of the states, the land value in Telangana has gradually come down. This might be the reason for the company to give up the idea of asking land.
Sultan Bazar proposed alignment is also controversial!
According to the statement given by, Govind Rathi, president of Traders' Joint Action Committee, which represents the traders of the area, including Sultan Bazar, Badi Chowdi, and Putli Bowli, the original alignment leads to the demolition of 300 shops in the market area, and the proposed alignment would just reduce the count by half.
This would be a better choice
So it can be said that, there might be again a chance for the people to protest against the government. Instead of, proposing the plans of their own. I think it would be better, if the market traders are called up and their suggestions are heard, so that, it can avoid unnecessary costs and make a final plan accordingly, which would be beneficial for the city for many more years to come.
By Phani
