said that while a major portion of the carriageway was 60 ft wide at present, at some stretches the road narrowed down to 40 to 50 ft. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) town planning has already completed survey of properties and a road development plan (RDP) was being finalized. "Once the RDP is okayed, we will begin marking properties to be taken over for widening and then the land acquisition process will begin," they said.
.
"The road from MGBS to Falaknuma via Darushifa, Mir Alam Mandi, Haribowli, Shah Ali Banda and Falaknuma is 100 ft in the master plan. However, the road was not widened due to resistance from locals. Now, for the metro rail project, the road expansion will be taken up. The entire process of finalising RDP and marking will take another month," GHMC circle 4 (Charminar) assistant city planner RE Nageshwara Rao told TOI on Monday.
.
The officials admit the number of properties likely to be affected due to widening could be more as the road is very narrow and majority of the properties were in just 50 to 100 sq yards each. The exact number of properties would be known only after the marking process gets over.
.
The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) had initially finalised the 15-km corridor from JBS to Falaknuma via Darulshifa, Haribowli, Shah Ali Banda and Falaknuma. Representatives from the Old City, especially MIM leaders, asked the HMR to avoid the route as many properties, religious structures and heritage buildings will be affected in the road widening. Then, an alternative route was proposed via Salar Jung Museum, the AP high court along the Musi, Bahadurpura, Nehru Zoological Park, Shamsheergunj and Falaknuma.
.
As the length of the corridor would increase to 18 km from the planned 15 km if it takes the alternate route, the HMR sent the proposal to the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department for examination. Sources said the MA&UD has not yet conveyed its decision on the alternative route. "The metro rail project developer L&T has begun works on the JBS-Falaknuma corridor and land acquisition process is progressing at a brisk pace on the Musheerabad-Narayanguda stretch. Except the Sultan Bazaar stretch, land acquisition has almost been completed at most places and demolitions are taking place. Now, the right of way has to be given to the remaining portion of the corridor i.e., in the Old City," an official of the HMR explained.
.
click here