Tuesday, July 29, 2008

South Central Railway seeks Gandhi land for its metro

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, July 28: The South Central Railway on Monday submitted to the Andhra Pradesh High Court that it would develop a world class railway station on the old Gandhi Hospital premises in Secunderabad at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore.
It informed the court that a proposal to transfer of lands to the SCR from the state has been pending for several months. The additional solicitor-general, Mr M. Ravindran, told the court that the SCR had put forth a proposal to the government that if the old Gandhi hospital land was transferred to it, the SCR would transfer its properties between Tarnaka and Sangeet theatre free of cost for road widening.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice A.R. Dave and Justice R. Subhash Reddy asked the SCR and government counsels to settle the issue amicably through negotiations and inform the court by August 8 about further progress.
Mr Ravindran said that before the hearing commenced, they had a meeting in the chambers of Mr Satya Prasad,special government pleader, and discussed about various options to sort out the issue including transfer of old Gandhi Hospital land to the SCR or appoint an arbitrator to fix a reasonable value for the SCR properties, which are going to be acquired. He said the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation offered Rs 7,000 per square yard as compensation, which was not accepted by the SCR. He submitted that the prevailing market value in the area is Rs 30, 000 per square yard.

Mr Pouluri Bhaskar, standing counsel for Railways appraised the court about development of Secunderabad railway station and also showed proposed draft plan to the court.
According to Mr Bhaskar, the Union ministry of railways identified Delhi, Patna and Secunderabad stations to be developed into world class stations and in the recent budget the railways also accorded financial sanction for it.

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