Hyderabad Metro Project documents be made public

Alleging that the Rs 8,760 crore project is being taken by Congress government with undue haste without involving the stakeholders, the 'Citizens for a Better Public Transport', a conglomeration of 15 NGOs, demanded that all documents pertaining to the project be made public.     

The technical bids for the project, covering 66 km and involving construction of 63 stations to decongest the city traffic, are set to be opened later this week and the works on the first phase of the project are expected to commence next month.     

"We will resort to direct action and disrupt the bidding process if the government does not agree to make the documents public. The project was conceived without taking the overall perspective of public transportation needs of the city," TDP former Minister K Vijayarama Rao, said.     

The NGOs forum demanded that the project be kept in abeyance for six months and a public debate be held to go into its pros and cons.     

"The Metro Rail will spoil the city's skyline permanently, without connecting any new regions," Prof Ramachandraiah of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies said.