In a major feat, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) has completed work on a 66-km stretch by erecting the 2599th pillar near the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), exactly 2,599 days after work started on the project in 2012. With this, the entire project barring a 6-km stretch in Hyderabad's Old City area, has been completed.
Taking to Twitter, Hyderabad Metro Rail MD, N V S Reddy said that the ground-breaking ceremony for the first pillar (Pier no.19 near Genpact in Uppal) was done seven years ago on April 19, 2012.
"No political dignitaries were present, only Mr Pankaj Dwivedi, the then CS, a few senior officers & I participated (sic)," he tweeted.
"2599 metro pillars in 2599 days by a single company, L&T, in continuous stretches and one go. A pillar a day under extremely trying circumstances and in congested roads of an Indian city. What an arduous but momentous journey! How many hurdles we successfully crossed with relentless pursuit And patience, skilfull negotiations and deft handling of sensitive issues! Can’t believe that Hyderabad Metro happened against all odds!" he added.
Reddy also pointed out that they acquired over 3,000 private properties in the heart of the city by amicably solving thousands of disputes besides shifting 200 km of power lines, 25 km of sewers and storm water drains, and 5,000 electric poles in dense commercial areas.
"Permissions from Defence(took 4 years); Railways(4 years); NH(3 yrs)& innumerable other government organisations; winning over 370 cases in High Court etc (sic). Handling 20 religious structures with patient negotiations in an adroit manner in a communally sensitive Indian city & handling heritage & other sensitive issues - no MIT, Stanford or Harvard can teach you. One needs to be a dexterous leader & not a bureaucrat/manager to do so (sic)," he said.
The MD also said that the process involved translocation of over 2,100 trees and removal of 3,000 trees with compensatory plantation of 6 lakh saplings; besides widening of roads, culverts and nalas, for smooth flow of traffic during metro construction.
"The list is endless. I can and need to write a tech and non-tech chapter on each pillar (how we solved and built it there) post-retirement, for posterity," he tweeted, adding that he was, "extremely grateful to the people of Hyderabad who backed the project to the hilt and enabled and encouraged us to perform."
He also thanked the political support he received, besides engineers and officials who worked on the project.
Happy to announce that we completed all the metro rail pillars of 66km please I (other than 6km in old city) with erecting the 2599th pier near MGBS Metro station
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
Bhumipuja for the first pillar(Pier no.19 near Genpact in Uppal) was done 7 years ago on 19th of April 2012- no political dignitaries were present- only Mr Pankaj Dwivedi, the then CS, a few senior officers & I participated.
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
@md_hmrl 2599 metro pillars in 2599 days by single company @ltmhyd in continuous stretches & one go- a global record - a pillar a day under extremely trying circumstances & in congested roads of an Indian city
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
What an arduous but momentous journey! How many hurdles we successfully crossed with relentless pursuit & patience, skill full negotiations & deft handling of sensitive issues! Can’t believe that Hyderabad Metro happened against all odds!
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
Innovative tech solutions to cross over/bypass 25 flyovers, 8 RoBs/railway crossings; sensitive structures; Nizam period “Elephant nala” drains, causeways, double elevated structures etc
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
Convincing traders of Sultanbazar, Badichowdi & other narrow old markets to give right of way, convincing & winning in High Court about the correctness of metro alignment from Greenland’s jn to Jubilee Hills Check Post & elsewhere- a clincher
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
Hundreds of eminent engineers & officers toiled every single day over the last 7 years to make “the impossible possible”. App mention - L&T engineering heads MP Naidu, Shankarlingam & KM Rao.
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
My team of selfless & diehard loyalist engineers/officers- Md Ziauddin, M Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, BN Rajeshwar, Mallikarjun, Narsing Rao, Vinod kumar, GM(LM) Balakrishna, DCP Balakrishna et. al., who endured my punishing schedule & discipline.
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
Finally, am extremely grateful to the people of Hyderabad who backed the project to the hilt & enabled & encouraged us to perform
— MD HMRL (@md_hmrl) May 19, 2019
The Hyderabad metro is currently operational along the entire stretch of Phase 1 corridor between Miyapur-LB Nagar with 27 stations, and part of Phase 3 — 13 stations from Nagole to Ameerpet. Phase 3 of the Hyderabad metro between Nagole-Raidurgam is already functional, while phase 2 of the project between Jubilee bus station to Falaknuma with 16 stations, is expected to be thrown open to the public soon.
Touted to be the largest metro in the world under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, the entire project is expected to be completed by December 2019. The HMRL is drawing plans to extend the project to Shamshabad to provide metro service to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA).