Traffic cops told to make way for metro

Hyderabad, January 20: The traffic police have been advised to chart out alternative routes for commuters to allow speeding up of the Metro Rail project. At a reveiw meeting on the project today, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy asked police commissioner A K Khan to take other traffic contingency measures to enable speedy completion of the prestigious project.

Hyderabad Metro Rail officials and chairman of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Y M Deosthalee made a detailed presentation to bring the chief minister up to speed on its progress.

The chief minister directed the state administration, HMR authorities and L&T officials to complete all formalities with banks and financial institutions to achieve finance closure by the due date in March. Deosthalee said financial closure for the world’s largest metro rail project would be achieved in record time.

L&T executives told the meeting that presently about 70 metro rail professionals, including some expatriates, are working on the project.

Reiterating their commitment to complete the project on schedule, they requested the government to expedite acquisition of land for the project and take up road widening. The meeting laid special emphasis on carrying out an effective traffic management plan so that any inconvenience to road users is minimised.

A special task force would be set up under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to monitor the progress of the project on a weekly basis.

–Agencies