Hi,
I write this article after learning about the social costs and the dire ramifications of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project which was awarded to the Maytas Metro Limited by the Government of Andhra Pradesh last year.
After reading this article (by Mint’s managing editor Niranjan Rajadhyaksha) and the link (an article by transport activist C. Ramachandriah) provided there, I have gained significant visibility about this whole project and why it will be bad for the people of Hyderabad.
Before proceeding any further, I would like to tell my readers that I am a Hyderabadi (Spent 20 years of my life until 2007 there) by origin and know most of Hyderabad very well. However the article also contains a map of the metro rail project for all readers.
I do not want to give a discourse on why this project is bad because it has already been done in this article in a very efficient and effective manner.
Excerpts (Download PDF):
“On the face of it, this financial model seems very attractive because the bidder has not asked for VGF and instead is paying a “huge” royalty. It was even said that Hyderabad is going to get the metro rail “for free”, at “zero cost to governments and city administrations”. The huge economic and social costs that thousands of the affected people pay, and the huge costs of land acquisition and rehabilitation, do not appear as a cost at all.”
Request fellow Hyderabadis and other enthusiasts to read this article carefully.
Those who do not have a start on this issue and would like to learn can also pick up through this article.