All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Tuesday demanded that the State government take up metro rail work in Old City, stating that the facility was being denied to people in that part of Hyderabad.
Speaking as part of the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Assembly, MIM Floor Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said it was their party which had initially demanded metro rail when the proposal came up during the TDP government in the past. He said that P. Janardhan Reddy, who was Leader of the Opposition then, had favoured mono rail while the MIM preferred metro rail.
When the alternative route proposed by MIM was not viable, why was the government not taking up metro rail in the original route as planned initially, he asked. “Did we stop or obstruct the work on the original route,” he sought to know. “When we are asking for taking up the work, we are being told about the requirement of environmental clearance for Old City (6-km Imlibun-Falaknuma), but we wonder how the sprawling Imlibun station of metro rail has come up on the reclaimed Musi river bed,” he added.
The people of Old City and MIM want metro trains chugging through those areas and soon, Mr. Akbaruddin said. Asserting that there was talk about tramway coming to Old City, the MIM legislator said people want that also, for better connectivity to historical places like Shaikpet, Charminar, Quli Qutb Shahi tombs and Golconda Fort.
Demanding ₹5,000 crore package for development of the Old City, Mr. Akbaruddin said projects such as Charminar pedestrianisation was progressing at a snail’s pace. The government should think about hawkers, dabbawalas and bandiwalas there since Charminar was the economic zone of the Old City. They could be provided alternative site by constructing a bridge in front of Salar Jung Museum for their relocation, he suggested, adding that there was a similar facility for hawkers in Prague, Czech Republic.
