Land acquisition for Old City Metro picks up pace

Hyderabad: With Metro authorities likely to begin demolitions in the first week of January as part of MGBS to Chandrayangutta (Old City corridor), the local businessmen fear losing their bread and butter.

Roughly 7.5 km long stretch as part of the Phase II of Metro Corridors, this route is named as Corridor VI with an estimated cost of Rs 2,741 crores from the total of Rs 24,269 crores earmarked for Phase II Metro Corridors. Other four being Nagole - Shamshabad RGIA (Airport Corridor), Raidurg – Kokapet Neopolis, Miyapur – Patancheru and LB Nagar – Hayathnagar. Amid growing demand for ‘reasonable compensation’, 1100 structures have already been identified on the stretch. Most of these now also have markings triggering unease amongst the businessmen and residents about the inevitable evictions. Some 300 property owners are yet to agree to the conditions of the compensations announced. Those who said to have agreed continue to lament about inadequate compensation.

“We are worried about shifting the business to a new area, but the amount of compensation being offered won’t help raise the business again. The nearby commercial areas are much in demand and could cost us at least Rs 1.5 lakh per sq yd. We are not against development, but the authorities should have provided us with reasonable compensation,” feels a businessman on condition of anonymity.

The newly formed Deccan Heritage & Religious Protection Society is already up in arms. One of the supporters of Society and activist Sarah Mathews has recently questioned the process of land acquisition for the prestigious project. She demanded that the Metro authorities come up with a DPR (Detailed Project Report) and make all the relevant documents public, including official correspondence of Metro authorities with the Government in local languages. “It is being said that this project would go on for 7 years. When this is the situation, what would be the future of those who were running business here? You would be snatching away the constitutional right of right to livelihood of these people,” she asked the officials.

In his latest official statement HAML (Hyderabad Airport Metro Ltd) Managing Director NVS Reddy announced that construction will begin in the first week of January 2025, with demolition of properties acquired under the Land Acquisition Act scheduled for the last week of December. “HAML aims to minimize property acquisitions, focusing primarily on the Old City.

Compensation for property owners in this area has been set at Rs 65,000 per square yard. To preserve the region’s heritage, none of the 106 religious and historical structures along the proposed route will be affected. We have devised engineering solutions to avoid any impact on these structures,” NVS Reddy explains. This corridor will feature six metro stations and is a significant component of the 54 stations planned in the second phase. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has emphasized the importance of completing all second-phase work within four years, the official said.