Centre ditches Hyderabad Metro again, grants Rs 3,045 Cr to Bengaluru Metro

HYDERABAD: In a classic case of step-motherly treatment meted out to the State of Telangana by the BJP-led Central government, the Bengaluru Metro has been granted Rs 3,045 crore, taking the quantum of financial assistance to the project to Rs 16,484.40 crore for both phases. On the other hand, the Centre gave a raw deal to Hyderabad Metro expansion plans.

The Centre has so far granted Rs 1,204 crore Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for the Hyderabad Metro phase I, which was the biggest metro rail project in the country under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The project cost was pegged at Rs 14,000 crore and the VGF was around Rs 1,450 crore. The Hyderabad Metro has yet to receive even the paltry assistance of the remaining Rs 250 crore from the Centre.

Moving ahead with its expansion plan of the Hyderabad Metro project phase II, to meet the transportation needs of the urban populace, the Telangana Government has decided to expand the metro rail network further. Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao (KTR) during his recent visit to New Delhi submitted a letter to Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, urging him for approval of phase II and to extend financial assistance.

The minister reiterated the appeal to expedite the approval for the 26-km-long Hyderabad Metro Rail line from BHEL to Lakdi-ka-pul and five-km metro line from Nagole to LB Nagar. The minister also submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project to the Union Government, one more time.

While the files submitted by the Telangana Government were gathering dust at the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, the additional funding to Bengaluru Metro raised many questions.

Telangana has time and again sought an explanation for the rejection of the phase II by the Centre which has said that it is not viable. KTR questioned how 10 small towns including Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Prayagraj and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh were earmarked for metro services and not Hyderabad’s high-density corridors.

The Telangana Government has expressed dismay over the reply of the Union ministry which has said that the Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic (PHPDT) and ridership are less and it does not justify the sanction of the metro rail project phase II at this juncture.

It is worth mentioning here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Metro services from Nagole-to -Miyapur via Ameerpet interchange station on November 29, 2017. The metro attracted heavy footfall and nearly four lakh commuters used to travel by it every day before the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the resumption of services, the numbers grew to over 2.5 lakhs per day.

The discrimination of the Centre against Telangana continued even with the two proposals made by the Telangana Government for KPHB Neo and Warangal Neo services which are smaller in size compared to metro trains.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Government which was determined to providing metro rail connectivity to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad embarked on the airport metro project at a cost of Rs 6,250 crore. Of this, the Telangana Government has allotted Rs 377.35 crore in the 2022-23 Budget. It was expected that the corridor would see a footfall of 1.6 lakh by 2031, 3.03 lakh by 2041, and 4.03 lakh by 2051.