Bangalore metro - Truth comes out after the hype subsides

Bangalore's Namma Metro was launched in stretch of 7km or so with a lot of hype on 20th October, 2011. Now the metro seems to be running with empty coaches and the feeder buses are also going to be withdrawn. The MD of BMTC talks of reintroducing them once Phase 1 works are over. As per the present schedule of the Namma Metro, the phase 1 is likely to be completed only in 2014. So, till then, keep running the metros as toy trains? - CR

BMTC to phase out Metro feeder services?

Shyam Sundar Vattam, Express News Service, 03 Nov 2011

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/bmtc-to-phase-out-metro-feeder-services/329315.html

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) plans to gradually phase out feeder services to the ‘Namma Metro’ temporarily due to lack of patronage. The corporation may re-introduce the feeder services once Phase 1 works are completed. The BMTC, before the inauguration of Metro train services, had deployed a fleet of buses to cater to the demands of commuters. But now it is finding difficult to run the service as not more than 2 or 3 commuters travel in each bus even during peak hours. More than the cost, the BMTC feels, it is not viable to run the buses empty even in busy hours.

“The corporation does not mind running feeder buses even if there are 15-16 passengers in each bus but certainly not for 2-3 persons,” said Srinivasan, Managing Director of BMTC.

He told Express that the idea of having feeder services is to facilitate the commuters of Metro train. Now it is found that there are not many passengers for feeder buses. Besides, Byappanahalli Metro Station is not a work centre because of which there are no regular commuters in these buses.

People may start using feeder services if the Metro train service is extended up to Peenya or other places where there are big chunks of workers. In view of this, the BMTC has started phasing out the feeder services at many places. It is also running feeder services from far off places like Majestic and Banashankari since many people are flocking M G Road and Byappanahalli stations for a ‘jolly ride’ in Metro trains.

Many hurdles to the metro

‘Relocate religious structures on metro rail corridors’

Times of India, Hyderabad, 23 October 2011

Hyderabad: Traffic police have asked Hyderabad Metro Rail and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation authorities to first remove bottlenecks, including religious structures, on the three metro corridors and alternative routes before initiating civil works. 
    Traffic police officials told STOI that the carriageway along the metro corridors would shrink drastically and there was an urgent need to first widen roads and remove bottlenecks so that traffic could move freely during metro rail construction. 
    A study done by the Hyderabad traffic police had identified hundreds of religious structures, including temples, mosques, chillas and others on the median or along either side of the roads. The issue was also brought to the notice of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy during a review meeting. 

  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIH/2011/10/23&PageLabel=6&EntityId=Ar00603&ViewMode=HTML

L&T gives up on Hyderabad Metro

This is a news item that appeared on 15th October 2011 in Andhrajyothy, a popular Telugu Daily. This was on the same day when the item "L&T getting jittery over Metro Rail" appeared on the front page of TOI. In this item, the CEO of L&T Hyd Metro, Mr. Gadgil says that they can't say when the metro works will be started.

L&T getting jittery over Metro Rail

L&T getting jittery over Metro Rail

Co. May Ditch Project Over Land Acquisition Delay

B Krishna Prasad, Times of India, Hyderabad, 15 Oct,2011.

A very interesting and also an encouraging news to the activists the top headline item that appeared on the Times of India, Hyderabad on  15 October 2011 probably reflects the current state of affairs regarding the Hyd metro rail project, and the frustration of the L&T company in executing the same. The news item says, among other things, - 

-       “several reasons like delay in land acquisition and pressure by local politicians for sub-contracts, for forcing it to re-consider going ahead with the project”.

-        Independent director of L&T “complained to the government over the inordinate delay in the handing over of 269 acres of land as agreed upon in the agreement”.

-       “facing pressure from several local politicians to allocate subcontracts to parties of their choice”.

-       “the government penalty to L&T for the delay in the project stands at nearly Rs 60 crore”. 

-       L&T is "paying huge interest for the loans it secured from various banks after the financial closure for the project in March 2011”.

-       L&T is "annoyed with the day-today interference in the execution of the project by HMR managing director N V S Reddy”.

-       L&T team has been seeking an appointment with the Chief Minister for the past one month "but has been unsuccessful so far”.

Full item is given below:

Hyderabad: Construction giant Larsen & Toubro, the private promoter of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project, has stated several reasons like delay in land acquisition and pressure by local politicians for sub-contracts, for forcing it to re-consider going ahead with the project.
    Independent director of Larsen & Toubro Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited, a subsidiary and a special purpose vehicle of the L&T Infrastructure Development Projects, and retired IAS officer Sheila Bhide, recently complained to the government over the inordinate delay in the handing over of 269 acres of land as agreed upon in the agreement. "Apart from land acquisition, we are facing pressure from several local politicians to allocate subcontracts to parties of their choice," said sources in the company.
    According to the sources, the land acquisition process is the main reason for L&T having second thoughts about the project. As per the agreement, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project (HMR), a government body, has to acquire the land for the project and hand it over to L&T. HMR in turn has entrusted the land acquisition job to GHMC. The 71.16 km-long rail project is to be constructed on three corridors, Miyapur-LB Nagar (28.87 km), Jubilee bus Station-Falaknuma
(14.78 km) and Nagole-Shilparamam (27.51 km) at a cost of Rs 12,132 crore and L&T bagged it in global bids floated by the state government after the project was cancelled, after Maytas the original promoter went bust post the Ramalinga Raju scam.
    But as of date, the land acquisition process has not made any progress in areas including the Purani Haveli Road-Shalibanda stretch in Old City, the Greenlands-Ameerpet-Madhuranagar-Krishna Nagar stretch, Country Club at Greenlands (where a station is supposed to be located), Prakash Nagar, Begumpet (parallel to the old airport flyover), from Punjagutta to Lakdi-ka-pul and Madhapur. “This is not surprisng because the project had been envisioned by Ramalinga Raju as a realtyled one. After it went phut, the government should have reviewed the project and changed the routes. But it did not do so. Everbody knew that there would be land acqusition problems,” an analyst said.
    To speed up the land acquisition, the government set up a committee comprising the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) additional commissioner (development planning) K Dhananjaya Reddy, deputy collector for land acquisition, the executive engineer of the respective corridor and the Hyderabad Metro Rail general manager for land management. But even that has not helped in speeding up the land acquisition process. 

L&T paying huge interest on loans 
    “We are also concerned over the delay in the land acquisition process,” B Sam Bob, principal secretary, municipal administration, told TOI.
    Because of the delay in the land acquisition process, the L&T management is paying huge interest for the loans it secured from various banks after the financial closure for the project in March 2011. L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd has already submitted a performance guarantee of Rs 360 crore to the state government. A consortium of 10 banks led by SBI has sanctioned the entire debt requirement of Rs 11,480 crore and the equity component of around Rs 3,440 crore would be infused by the L&T group for the project.
    The state should also have reasons to worry over the delay in the project, as if it does not hand over 90% of the land to the private promoter within 90 days of the payment of Performance Surety, the state would have to shell out Rs 36 lakh per day of delay in the project. The penalty clause came into effect on May 5 this year, and as of date, the government penalty to L&T for the delay in the project stands at nearly Rs 60 crore.
    “Execution of the Metro Rail project is a highly skilled work and any deviation from the quality norms would doom it. Some works involving non-skilled activity can be given to local contractors, but not the major ones as is being demanded,” said the sources in the company. L&T is also reportedly annoyed with the day-today interference in the execution of the project by HMR managing director N V S Reddy.
    To bring all these issues to the notice of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, an L&T team has been seeking an appointment with him for the past one month but has been unsuccessful so far. Miffed by the indifferent response, the company recently asked a senior cabinet minister to prevail over Kiran Kumar and ensure that he meets the company’s representatives. According to the minister, the CM assured him that he would meet the L&T team after the ongoing Telangana strike ends.

Growing resistance to the metro rail

Bandh against Metro Rail Corridor-III total

S. Bachan Jeet Singh, The New Indian Express, 15 Oct 2011

HYDERABAD: Slogans of ‘Metro rail should go underground’, ‘Say no to metro rail and save our businesses and families’ and ‘Metro rail is a real estate business and Hyderabadis don’t want such a project’ rented the air when hundreds of businessmen of Greenlands, Krishna Nagar, Yousufguda, Madhura Nagar and other places took out a massive rally in the city on Friday after observing a total trade bandh against the proposed Metro Rail Corridor-III route. The Metro Rail Corridor- III between Nagole and Shilparamam, covers Greenlands, Krishna Nagar, Yousufguda, Madhura Nagar and other areas. For the full item, go to -

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/hyderabad/bandh-against-metro-rail-corridor-iii-total/323637.html

Shops shut down at Ameerpet-Greenlands Road
(Photo by C. R, 14 Oct 2011)

City traders’ bandh against Metro Rail

Times of India, Hyderabad, 15 October 2011

TRS which has been demanding a change in the metro rail plan at Sultan Bazaar, participated in the protest at Ameerpet with party MLA K Tarakarama Rao and its politburo member D Shravan Kumar joining the traders. The leaders promised traders that they will take up the matter at an all-party meeting. A N Shankar, a trader from Ameerpet said, “Hundreds of families will get affected due to this project and it is time the government took a serious note of it. This is nothing but discrimination against small-time traders.” He added, “It is surprising that there was no debate or discussion on this project by the government.”  R Sayanna, a resident of Krishnanagar who has been actively opposing the metro rail project said, “If there are underground metro routes in several countries, why can’t it be here. This is more of a real estate business than a metro rail project.” Another protestor N Kumar from Krishnanagar said that this was only the beginning of the agitation and in future if the problem is not resolved they would not let metro work begin.

Protest meeting at Ameerpet cross roads (Photo by C.R)

Hyderabad: Total bandh was observed by traders at Ameerpet, Madhuranagar, Yousufguda and Krishnanagar on Friday against the proposed metro rail corridor that would go through this stretch. Traders held protest rallies and demanded that the government either opt for an underground corridor or change its route. Hundreds of shops remained closed along the stretch through the day and the protesting traders were joined by the local residents who extended support to them.  

L&T fed up with Metro MD

TRUE LIES

Times of India, 19 September 2011.

Another of his tribe 
Probably the only other officer to leave a central service and join the state government is another railway man, N V S Reddy. An Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) official, NVS forced his way into the state government to become the permanent managing director of Hyderabad Metro Rail Corporation. Reddy is these days busy with the metro rail project and spares no one who questions the way the project is being taken forward. At the receiving end are not only NGO representatives but also members of the fourth estate. Reddy is too smart to take them head on but spreads tales that they are working at the behest of 'vested interests." A little bird says that the project contractors Larsen & Toubro (L&T) are also fed up with the way that Reddy conducts his public affairs and speaks out of turn. 

HCC gets tough with Hyderabad Metro reg heritage buildings

Better late than never. I wish the HCC sticks to its position (there seem to be some discrepancies in some names of buildings in the news item). The Urban Arts Commission is very powerful in Delhi regarding protection of heritage buildings. Delhi metro had to change alignment near Qutab Minar - C.R

Underground metro mooted to save heritage precincts

Sudipta Sengupta, Times of India,  | Sep 1, 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Underground-metro-mooted-to-save-heritage-precincts/articleshow/9816671.cms 

HYDERABAD: To save Hyderabad's heritage from being run over by the metro rail project, the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) has for the first time made a statement on the issue and suggested that the metro line be taken underground, at least partially.It has also stated that the metro rail body should take clearance from it before taking up work near any heritage site.

The committee's proposal came to light in a recent letter sent by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to Forum for a Better Hyderabad, in response to queries raised by the latter on the controversial project. In its letter, HMDA stated that the metro rail issue was placed before the HCC at a recent meeting, wherein the body proposed that the project be taken underground on the metro routes that house heritage buildings and precincts. 

The committee also suggested that the project director (metro rail) seek clearance from HCC before starting work. According to HMDA, these proposals have now been forwarded to metro officials for further deliberation. Activists say that close to 17 ancient monuments of the city would have to be pulled down if the metro project is executed in its present form. This list includes parts of prominent buildings such as the Jubilee Hall, Vilayath Manzil, Hyderabad central building division's office (Moazam Jahi market), Nampally Sarai, Women's College, Koti, etc. "Laying underground tracks is the only solution we have in sight to save this heritage cover," said HCC member Sanjay Torvi. "In the past, when the metro authorities made a presentation before us, we had suggested that the matter be dealt with sensitively. But this time we have made a specific appeal and we hope it is honoured." 

The committee also dismissed arguments about the option (of going underground) being unviable owing to Hyderabad's rocky terrain. In fact city architect Srinivas Murthy, while lauding the HCC's decision, said that it was no Herculean task to build an underground rail network, thanks to latest technologies. 

"It would slightly inflate the budget of the project but then that is a small price to pay to protect the city's heritage," Murthy said. Referring to the metro rail in New Delhi, the architect pointed out how the entire route passing through Old Delhi is built underground so as to preserve the character of the area. 

Even in Bangalore, city activists say, an 8.2 km-long metro line is being laid underground to protect the ancient Vidhan Sabha building. "We have forwarded the HCC's proposal to Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) officials. Now it is up to them to conduct the required surveys and see how best they can execute it," said Sayed Ziauddin, chief planner, HMDA. He said that the HMDA was still awaiting a response from HMR on the issue.