Land near Ganesh temple in Secunderabad will be handed over to HMR

Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma and Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) authorities have informed the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that different technical options were being explored to consider taking the Metro Rail alignment underground in front of Legislative Assembly and slightly diverting the alignment of corridor-II (JBS-Falaknuma) away from Sultan Bazaar.

Services of eminent technical experts should be taken to explore the varied options, the Chief Minister instructed after a detailed discussion with Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, MA&UD Principal Secretary S.K Joshi and HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy.

Mr. Rao once again instructed the metro rail authorities to ensure that no heritage structure is disturbed by the elevated viaduct alignment. Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park should be protected as also the view of the Legislative Assembly and the M.J. Market, apart from preserving the heritage value of Sultan Bazaar, senior officials said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, following the CM’s intervention, the project got the defence ministry approval for transfer of 2.15 acres of its land for construction of the Parade Grounds interchange Metro station and Right of Way for the Metro Rail for a length of 2.23 km in defence areas. The issue was lingering on for the last four years and successive chief secretaries were pursuing it with defence secretary and cabinet secretary in the past.

Mr. Rao thanked Defence Minister Arun Jaitley for allowing transfer of land and also thanked Urban Development Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu for facilitating fast clearance of recommendatory letters for concessional import tariffs for metro rail equipment.

With the defence ministry’s clearance, construction of Parade Grounds Metro station connecting the corridor-II and corridor-III (Nagole-Shilparamam) can be taken up now along with viaduct construction from the DCP North office in Marredpally to Secunderabad PG College (Paradise).

About 2.15 acres of defence land in front of Ganesh temple in Secunderabad will be handed over to HMR and in return, HMR will transfer 1.68 acres of old Gandhi hospital land for constructing a ‘Sainik Aramghar’ admeasuring 60,000 sft on it at HMR’s cost. The ministry has also permitted usage of 3.65 acres of defence land by HMR for construction of Metro Rail pillars and viaduct on a long term annual license fee basis, officials added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – June 20, 2014