[sustran] letter on Hyderabad Metro in current EPW

[Vinay Baindur]

http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15961.pdf


*Hyderabad Metro*


We would like to demand that the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project
be subjected to a rigorous scrutiny on environmental and economic aspects.
The HMR
has been one of the most controversial mega projects in public-private
partnership
(PPP) being pushed by the Government of India and Government of Andhra
Pradesh.
It has also been severely contested by civil  society in Hyderabad. Earlier
it was linked to
the scandal of Satyam Computers. The then  prime consultant, E Sreedharan of
the
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had withdrawn from this project.
Several doubts have been raised on the
quality of the studies done for this project.
The  HMR authorities are refusing to share
the detailed project reports even today, preposterously claiming that they
are “intellectual property”. Genuine concerns havebeen
expressed over the negative impact of this
project on the city’s historic core areas and
heritage sites, including Sultan Bazaar and
the state assembly building. The route in the
old city was changed after the concession
agreement had been signed. Now the HMR
wants to take the metro corridor right along
the course of the Musi river which runs
through the city. This river is in the National
River Conservation Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MoEF).
Being an elevated corridor running
through the busy streets of the core city,
this project is going to deface and decimate the beauty of the city, and
erase its
very historical character.
We demand (a) an immediate halt to the
project, (b) a thorough review of the feasibility of this project in
economic terms
vis-à-vis the alternatives available to improve
public transport, and (c) rigorous environmental scrutiny.
We also demand that the metro rail projects in all cities be brought under
the MoEF
for mandatory environmental clearance.
Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, P M Bhargava,
E A S Sarma, Sekhar Singh, Rajendra Singh,
Arvind Kejriwal, Sandeep Pandey, and others