AAP demands scrapping of Metro Corridor-2

AAP is the only party in Telangana (or AP) that has taken a clear position on the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR). AAP's Telangana manifesto has promised to scrap the corridor-2 and termed it the least useful corridor. The relevant portion of the manifesto is reproduced below:

AAP considers this as land and real estate project. AAP demands transparency and compliance with the Concession Agreement.

- All important documents of the HMR will be made available in the website of the HMR.

- Full compliance with the RTI Act.

- The land allocations to real estate of the L&T beyond the Concession Agreement will be reviewed and the concerned officers/departments will be held accountable.

- Modifying the Concession Agreement through Government Orders will not be allowed.

Corridor II (JBS to Falaknuma) should be scrapped.This is the least useful corridor and also it will wipe out the heritage area of Sultan Bazaar apart from demolishing thousands of properties.AAP government will scrap this corridor.

The bus transport and MMTS network will be strengthened The MMTS phase II will be completed on a priority basis to strengthen the public transport in the city and improve connectivity to the suburban areas.

Truck falls into metro pit, kills 2 workers

Truck plunges into metro rail pit, kills 2

Times of India, Hyderabad, 18 April 2014

Hyderabad: Two L&T metro rail workers died and a driver suffered injuries on Thursday when a ready-mix truck fell into a trench dug for the construction of a pier (pillar) at Nalgonda X Roads.
    The mishap occurred at 3.20 am when the ready-mix concrete truck (AP 16 TD 4445) coming from Dachepally crashed through the barriers and fell into a pit dug for construction of the metro rail pillar. Four workers were inside the pit and the vehicle directly fell on two of them. Both workers — Mumtaz Ansari, 23, and Babul Yadav, 19, hailing from Jharkhand — died on the spot. Two other workers in the pit escaped unhurt. Just minutes before the incident, six of the 10 workers in the pit had climbed out to get a drink of water. 

    Truck driver Komaraiah from Mahbubnagar, who also suffered injuries, was admitted to the Osmania General Hospital. His condition is said to be out of danger. 

    Though the accident occurred at 3.20 am, it took more than eight hours for the police to pull out the bodies from the spot. Police initially requisitioned five small cranes to pull out the truck from the pit, but could not lift the heavy truck. Finally, a 180-tonne heavy crane was brought to the spot and at 11.45 am, the truck was pulled out from the pit and the bodies recovered.
    Due to the accident, traffic on the busy Chaderghat-Malakpet route moved at a snail’s pace till afternoon.

Half of Iskcon temple to be razed by Hyderabad Metro

After showing sheer arrogance and utter disregard to the historic heritage buildings of Hyderabad city, the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) authorities appear to be adamant on demolishing at least half of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), Secunderabad temple (Near Sangeet theatre) on Corridor-3. HMR proposes to acquire 1,600 square yards of land of the 100-year old temple. HMR now says 900 sq.yrd only will be affected. The temple complex will get totally ruined and lose all the charm of a cultural place with the metro pillars inside its complex and the gigantic corridor viaduct going right over the temple.

Iskcon temple officials and devotees have protested against the arbitrary nature of the HMR and its arrogance. They have proposed an alternative in consultation with railway engineers. They stressed that this alternative “was designed by a panel consisting of top railway (SCR) engineers, headed by the chief engineer himself. There were 10 members in the panel”. In the picture given below, the shaded rectangular area is the temple premises, the red lines are the existing proposal of the HMR and the yellow lines are the proposed alternative by Iskcon as per the advise of the railway engineers. By following the alternative, there will be no difference to the demolition of other buildings and, more importantly, the temple will be saved.

Our View: The present controversy is due to the total lack of transparency and public consultation on the routes of the HMR in the city. Such controversies arose at several places – Sultan Bazaar-Badi Chawdi-Koti, Ameerpet-Yousufguda-Krishnanagar, Regimental Bazaar, Nampally etc. The HMR and GHMC authorities have displayed utter lack of sensitivity and more of arrogance. They appear to be eager to serve the private interests of the L&T than the public cause. Already the Govt of AP has given more lands, worth hundreds of crores, to L&T than what are specified in the Concession Agreement.

The alternative curve proposed by the Iskcon with the advise of the railway engineers should be followed by the HMR. If they claim that the curve is not conducive for the trains to negotiate, we would like to remind them that from Greenlands to JHills Checkpost, there are at least seven L-shared curves. Till now the HMR and L&T have not disclosed to the public about the designs of the metro at these curves. Therefore, the HMR’s claims cannot be trusted.

We extend our support to the Iskcon temple authorities in their fight to save the temple.

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The following weblinks (developed by the Iskcon officials) gives the details of the existing and proposed curves:

This is the link wherein they explain what would happen if they dont take ISKCON temple land. This is a completely bogus alternative. Railway engineers had a good laugh. 

http://www.hydmetrorailexposed.com/their-alternative.html

Here is what we are proposing:

http://www.hydmetrorailexposed.com/our-alternative.html

You would find all information here.

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FIR against L&T by the NHAI

 An FIR has been filed against the L&T Metro, which is constructing Hyderabad metro rail (HMR), in Sanathnagar police station (Hyderabad). L&T and HMR have been behaving as law unto themselves. Their highhanded attitude over other departments in the govt has been a talking point for sometime in the official circles. Now the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has filed this FIR. L&T has been recklessly violating the existing rules and practices in road widening and road laying, and taking up the metro works along the highways (Eenadu, 22 Jan, Hyd city edition). He is the link to the news item: http://eenadu.net/district/inner.aspx?dsname=Hyderabad&info=hyd-panel1 

It is not a small issue that a central govt agency files an FIR against L&T. People who are travelling along the metro construction routes have been experiencing nightmares in traffic jams, spoiled roads, lack of traffic police to guide etc. At most of the spots where the soil test were done, badly laid and rough patches have been left out creating a serious nuisance and a hazard for the vehicles. And, in Hyderabad, nobody questions the metro people. Because it is big project.

Happy New Year 2014

Dear all,

I wish all the social activist a very Happy and Successful New Year. Hope our struggles bear fruit in strengthening democracy and accountability in governance. The victory of AAP in Delhi and its forthcoming expansion all over India provide immense hope in this direction. I, on my part at Hyderabad, will continue to expose the Hyderabad's elevated metro rail project. I will be continuously seeking the support of the fellow activists in the city and elsewhere in this purpose.

With best regards,

Dr. C. Ramachandraiah

The two photos below were taken when a group of geography students visited Hyderabad in December 2013 as part of their study tour. They were already aware of our campaign on this project and also this blog. I gave them first a presentation in my Centre, clarified all kinds of doubts, and later took them on a field visit to Sultan Bazaar which is a heritage area. See some posts on this blog to know their fight against the metro project. The students were surprised to see how vibrant the bazaar was and were wondering how can any civilised government demolish such a bazaar.

Hyderabad metro breaks Manjira water pipeline

The following news item refers to the breaking of a 1000 mm diametre main pipeline carrying drinking water to Hyderabad city by the metro construction near Moosapet. For several hours the water gushed out and flooded the area.At the time it was broken by the drilling, there was an estimated flow of 3000 cubic metres per hour. Due to this break down, water supply has been stopped today in several localities (Eenadu, 13 Dec, 2013).
(It may be recalled that the L&T company, which bagged the metro contract, has been conducting soil tests for the last three years along the metro corridors. This incident proves how inefficient the L&T has been in undertaking the works in a scientific manner.)

Who will pay the loans of Delhi Airport Line metro

Who will repay loans for Delhi airport Metro, Reliance or DMRC?

Author(s): Anupam Chakravartty Date:Nov 20, 2013

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/who-will-repay-loans-delhi-airport-metro-reliance-or-dmrc 

A consortium of banks led by Axis Bank and India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFC) has slapped legal notices on Delhi Airport Metro Express Line (DAMEL), a private-public partnership between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Reliance-Infra, for non-payment of bank loans. The project has turned into a non-performing asset. This comes as a double blow for DAMEL, which is already engaged in a legal dispute between DMRC and Reliance-Infra.

DAMEL carries a little over 10,000 commuters between Shivaji Stadium and Dwarka, and halts at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to help commuters avoid traffic. But DAMEL now has nobody to take responsibility for its liabilities.

According to DMRC, which is now operating the airport Metro line, the 54:46 partnership between Reliance-Infra and DMRC failed to pay interest for the loans from the consortium of banks since March 2013. Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL) borrowed Rs 1,800 crore from Axis Bank-led consortium and Rs 350 crore from UK-based IIFC after the company bagged the contract in 2009. DMRC spokesperson issued a statement that liability to pay interest for the loan rests with DAMEPL even though Reliance Infra has invoked the termination clause to the agreement.

On the other hand, Reliance-Infra issued a statement that its concessionaire DAMEPL “has terminated the Concession Agreement through termination notice dated October 8, 2012, owing to DMRC’s Event of Default.”  It further stated that DMRC has already taken over the entire project with effect from July 1, this year with all existing contracts, employees from DAMEPL. Since July 1, DMRC has been collecting all the revenues while the arbitration proceedings are going on under Railway Board.

Earlier this year, the Comptroller Auditor General of India had pointed out that Reliance-Infra has diluted its stake in the concessionaire, a charge strongly refuted by Reliance Infra (see ‘Profitable Exit’). Since 2012, DAMEL operations came to standstill until January 2013 when Reliance-Infra pointed out some serious structural defects in the Metro line owing to which DAMEL trains had to slow down. While DMRC claims the faults were repaired, Reliance-Infra wanted to back out of the project citing losses.