HYDERABAD: Months after huffing and puffing and also sounding the powers that be seeking permissions, Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) authorities finally managed to secure clearances from the Postal Department and also the South Central Railway (SCR) to take up pending works of crossing over the railway lines in different places.
Overhead metro viaduct construction was held up for more than a year near the Begumpet Railway Station as the Postal Department did not allow the work to proceed atop. The post office is on a 400 sq.yards land handed over on lease by the Government and after the department demanded Rs 3 crore as compensation, HMR sought just the fourth floor to take its line forward.
Finally, it was resolved after the HMR agreed to fund the construction of a new post office at Vikarabad at a cost of about Rs.50 lakh, according to Metro Rail officials. Work on demolishing the top portion of the post office began last week.
Over railway tracks
Similarly, viaduct work on crossing over the railway lines was held up for quite some time because of the railway authorities insisting on high traffic block fees of about Rs.100 crore at six different locations to halt trains for a few hours at specified timings when the metro viaduct is built to crossover the railway lines.
Minister for Municipal Administration K.T. Rama Rao had to seek Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s help because two railway crossovers at Bharatnagar (Corridor one — Miyapur to L.B. Nagar) and Chilkalguda (Corridor three — Nagole to Hi-Tec city/Raidurg) were done without such fees on the latter’s initiative.
Crossover works
The railways has now agreed to allow the crossover works charging about Rs. 1 crore a bridge, according to Managing Director of HMR N.V.S. Reddy.
“Trains will be stopped for one to one-and-half hours between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. to allow construction of the metro viaduct,” he explained. Soon, rail over bridge works are to commence at Chilkalguda and Alugadda Bhavi (Corridor three) to begin with in the next few days while Oliphanta (also C-3), which will be having a pre-fab steel bridge, work would start after some time, he explained. Remaining ROBs are to be built at Bhoiguda, Begumpet and Lakidikapul.
