One of the reasons for the Sangeet-Tarnaka stretch going from bad to worse is the stand-off between the GHMC and the SCR over acquisition of land for road widening.
Although the R&B Department owns the road, the government had asked the Municipal Corporation to widen the road as part of the inner ring road work when the Shamshabad International Airport was opened for traffic.
Following prolonged and unsuccessful talks, the civic body began to demolish walls of the railway properties five years ago as time was running out. It led to the SCR approaching the High Court, and the latter constituting a committee under former Law Commission Chairman M. Jagannadha Rao to thrash out a compromise formula.
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The panel was expected to find a compromise formula between the GHMC offer of Rs. 7,000 per sq.yard and the SCR demand for ‘market rate’. A sum of Rs. 45 crore was also paid in the interregnum. The civic body had sought 52,938 sq.metres of land for road widening, and the railway authorities had handed over 34,056 sq.metres in stages over the last few years. It is also the reason behind differing width of the road at various places and incomplete streetlights. At least 50 more structures remain to be demolished. Sometime ago, there was talk of land-to-land compensation at Tirupati for developing a world-class station.
Then, the SCR sought land for new passenger and freight terminals including one near Hi-Tec City in lieu of the land being given up for road widening, but nothing concrete has emerged thus far. The High Court panel, too, had completed its hearings, and a final judgment is yet to come.