Letter to Editor in Vaartha Telugu Daily by C. Ramachandraiah

This letter by me published in Vaartha Telugu Daily today (23 July 2011) condemns the vilification of the anti-metro campaigners by S. Jeevananda Reddy in two articles on 21-22 July. It may be recalled that a pro-metro meeting organised by one dubious NGO with the metro MD as the main speaker was disrupted by the protesting traders of Sultan Bazaar and TRS party cadres.

  

Hyderabad metro should be underground in several parts- says the DPR

Namaste Telangana, a Telugu daily formed for the cause of a separate T state, has written a series of 16 stories with the last one appearing today (11 July). For us fighting against the elevated metro in the last few years, several of the contents were familiar. What surprised us is the revelations based on DPRs (detailed project reports) which are not shared by the authorities even under RTI (my petition is pending in the State Info Comn). A few of those are given below –

-          - The DPR-2003 (prepared by DMRC of Delhi Metro, prime consultant to Hyd metro) talks of the taking most of the Line-2 underground. This is the Line in which Sultan Bazaar traders have been fighting against demolitions. But the state govt (the headed by Mr. Naidu) preferred elevated and told the DMRC that most of the roads will be widened.

-         -  It is amusing to find the name of a popular road (Sardar Patel Road) and a never-heard of road (Krishna Prasad Road) appearing in the old city on Line-2. (The ‘consultants’ who are hardly familiar with the city would have prepared these reports).

-         - The Line-3 between Secunderabad and Hitec City was not feasible as elevated corridor from engineering point of view due to steep gradients and four flyovers enroute (in parallel). It was recommended to be partly underground and partly elevated.

-          - Some pillars in Line-3 will have to go upto a height of about 100 ft.

-         -  The metro project’s managing director (MD) should be a technocrat of impeccable integrity (what we have is a railway accounts officer, whose integrity is questionable, and who got appointed in the same post till he retires!).

More later...

Trouble on tracks - Metro to throw the city out of gear

Dear all,

A well-written piece in the Times of India (27 June 2011) on some of the impending perils of the elevated metro rail in Hyderabad.

best regards,

C.R

Hyderabad: Is the government suffering from vision impairment? Buried in a sea of files is a crucial document that is curiously not visible to the powers that be. A detailed project report submitted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the original consultant of the Hyderabad metro project, states clearly that the Secunderabad-Hi-Tec City corridor is "not feasible as a fully elevated corridor from engineering point of view due to steep gradients, large number of ups and downs along the alignment and presence of flyovers on the route''.

The vision problem is not limited to the ignored DMRC recommendation alone. The government and metro rail authorities are also unable to visualise 70-feet tall pillars, 11-feet in diameter standing right in the middle of busy junctions on this stretch holding the metro rail track, even as the traffic would crawl in its shadow, manoeuvring its way around the towering pillars. Worse, despite the government's tall claims, the metro rail is not going to ease traffic congestion. Why? Well, the answer lies in a government order itself issued a couple of months ago which gave the developer, L&T, the freedom to levy a `premium' ticket rate on peak hour commuters, defying the very concept of `affordable public transport'.

For the full item, click the link - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Trouble-on-track-Metro-rail-may-not-be-answer-to-citys-traffic-ills/articleshow/9005916.cms