Hyderabad, January 28: The bustling Sultan Bazar, Putilbowli, Badichowdi, Kachiguda, Narayanaguda and Musheerabad areas will come to a grinding halt on January 29, as traders have decided to observe a bandh, demanding the state government to change the Metro rail route.
Over 800 traders gathered in Kachiguda on Thursday to view a powerpoint presentation given by C Ramchandraiah, urban researcher and founder, Citizens for a Better Public Transportation in Hyderabad, on how the Metro project is going to ruin the city and displace lakhs of people. All traders shouted slogans of ‘Metro rail hatao, Sultan Bazar bachao’ after the presentation and announced they will take their fight to its logical conclusion.
During the meeting it was decided that Joint Action Committees (JACs) will be formed to chalk out future course of action. Cutting across party lines, local political leaders have announced their support.
Suman Gupta, a pharmaceutical trader in Badichowdi said that over 1,000 street hawkers will be out of work because of the Corridor-II. On bandh day, traders will take out peace rallies, hold meetings and spread awareness against the metro rail project.
Most owners who are going to loose their lands, are senior citizens who will face many hardships, Gupta said. Another trader, Sanjay Kumar blasted HMR authorities for planning the corridor without taking the views of local people into consideration.
“When HMR authorities could change alignment of the route according to whims and fancies of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLAs, why the same could not be done here?” he asked.
On the liberal compensation package for owners of affected properties, trader Ramesh Kumar said they were more bothered livelihood, their families and workers.
–Agencies