Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has offered to help the Hyderabad metro, which is reeling under losses due to a decline in footfall with the COVID-19 pandemic. In an official statement released by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), KCR was quoted as saying that the state government is exploring the possibilities of helping Hyderabad metro, as it was witnessing heavy losses and an assurance was given to L&T, which is part of the project under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Earlier, L&T officials made repeated requests to the government to support them as the Hyderabad Metro Rail project had been hugely impacted by the pandemic. In order to discuss the same, L&T Officials had a meeting with the Chief Minister on Tuesday at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad with a request that the state government should extend its support. According to the note from the CM, the L&T officials discussed about the financial losses of the metro, repayment of bank loans and the increasing interests and requested the government to come to their rescue.
Commenting on the metro, the CM said, "Within a short span of time, the Hyderabad metro, by providing the safest travel services, has become a popular public transport system. The pandemic had an adverse impact on Hyderabad metro as it did for other sectors. For Hyderabad, which is growing day by day, metro rail services are very necessary and there is a need to expand the metro services in future. It is regrettable that the COVID-19 pandemic forced the metro rail project into financial crisis and it was made to pay compound interests. The state government will come to the rescue of the prestigious Hyderabad metro project as it did for other sectors."
It was further added that the state government would examine various possibilities and accordingly, take a decision. "Measures will be taken not only to support Hyderabad metro but also to rejuvenate it," the CM said. The state government said that a high-level committee would be formed to study the matter extensively and arrive at a policy.
According to the official statement, the committee would compromise of, Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao, R&B Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Government’s Chief Advisor Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, CM’s Principal Secretary S Narsing Rao, Finance Special Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, MAUD Spl Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar and Principal Secretary (Industries) Jayesh Ranjan.