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Telangana to Fund Metro Expansion

Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said the Telangana government is ready to fully fund the Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-2 project with 100 per cent equity and urged the Centre to immediately issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to facilitate the expansion.

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Addressing a press conference today, the CM said that he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union ministers - Manohar Lal Khattar and Ashwini Vaishnaw for several times ( on May 20 and 21 also ) and urged them to sanction the metro rail expansion project, which was already delayed for years.

L&T's Withdrawal and Financial Restructuring

CM Revanth Reddy mentioned that the Centre agreed to sanction the Metro Rail phase 2 project with a 50 per cent share of each state and Union Governments after the contract agency L and T company took a back seat. On the advice of the centre, the state government took full control of the Metro Rail. L&T did not agree to the proposal of Metro Rail expansion in view of mounting losses in the first phase project. The agency created Rs 30,000 crore worth of assets and incurred an annual loss of ₹400 crore. The L and T management also refused to undertake future operations and maintenance of the metro rail", the CM said.

After consulting the centre, the State Government took over Metro Rail assets worth ₹30,000 crore for just ₹15,000 crore.

To clear the L&T Metro's loan amount of ₹13,600 crore from banks at an interest rate of 8.25 per cent, CM Revanth Reddy said that the government convinced IRFC for funding and secured a loan of ₹13,600 crore from a Japanese entity at an interest rate of 4 per cent.

CM Accuses Centre of Delays and Discrimination

The Chief Minister questioned the centre for not permitting the transfer of loans from IRFC to the state government. " We have already paid ₹1,400 crore dues from us. We also submitted a letter confirming the Reserve Bank's approval, yet the loan transfer was blocked".

The Chief Minister said that the funds are due for release today and demanded that Union Minister G Kishan Reddy take the responsibility of releasing funds to the state government from the IRFC ( Indian Railways Finance Corporation) immediately.

The State Government is ready to bear the entire cost of the execution of the metro rail expansion project. The centre should issue NOC. The Metro Rail expansion project covered the jurisdiction of four BJP MPs, including Kishan Reddy's Lok Sabha segments, he said.

The CM pointed out that the Centre had approved ₹3,15,000 crore loans through PFC and RFC without any guarantee during the KCR rule. The loans were provided at the huge interest rate of 9 per cent to 15 per cent.

The CM slammed the Union government for not approving the Metro Rail expansion project. The Chief Minister alleged that the centre discriminated against Telangana and approved only the metro rail projects in Ahmedabad, UP and Vizag recently. "We are not politicising the metro rail issue. Our goal is to take over the first phase of the Metro and complete Phase 2," he said.

Blame on Previous BRS Government

CM Revanth Reddy took a broadside at the previous BRS government for the delay of the Metro Rail first phase project soon after the formation of Telangana state. KCR's actions caused a three-year delay in the completion of the first phase, and the project's original estimation of Rs ₹15,000 crore escalated to ₹22,000 crore. As a result, the L&T company incurred losses.

The Chief Minister also took a strong dig at the KCR government for neglecting the metro rail expansion during the 10-year rule. The BRS leaders focused more on amassing wealth rather than taking care of people's welfare, the CM charged.

The Chief Minister expressed serious concern over the dropping of Hyderabad metro rail ranking to 9th place recently.

Allegations of 'Collusion Politics'

The CM castigated KCR and Kishan Reddy for indulging in collusion politics on Metro rail expansion. The union minister was silent when KCR made harsh comments.

CM Revanth Reddy wondered why the BRS and Kishan Reddy were hurling challenges at us. "We respect Kishan Reddy, but we are frustrated with him now. KTR is behind Kishan Reddy, who is abetting conspiracies," he added.

Project's History and Other Demands

CM Revanth Reddy highlighted that the Congress government in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh had formulated plans to provide transport facilities of international standards for this global city. During YSR's tenure, the then Union Minister for Urban Development, Jaipal Reddy, sanctioned the Metro Rail project to Hyderabad. After YSR's untimely demise, agreements for the first phase of the Metro were finalised during Rosaiah's tenure. The project was commenced with the target of completing the first phase by 2017. After the formation of Telangana, the first phase of the Metro was obstructed under the pretext of protecting historical monuments. Upon assuming power, the people's government decided to take up the Metro Rail expansion. We met the Prime Minister and Union Ministers requesting approval several times.

The Chief Minister also questioned the centre for the slowdown in the Warangal Airport project works. He met Civil Aviation minister Rammohan Naidu, requesting to expedite the airport works, the CM said. (ANI)