The Times of India          29.11.2013

Four major stretches to be widened in Old Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Providing relief to motorists, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to take up road widening of four key stretches in the Old City after finishes acquiring properties for the work.

Four stretches where the civic body expects to start demolition within a month, include DRDL junction-Chandrayangutta flyover, Chandrayangutta to Barkas Peeli Durgah, Zohrabi Durgah to Habeebnagar (2 km) and Yakatpura to Rein Bazaar Chamman.

A total of 498 properties will be affected, officials said as the process of offering compensation at government fixed rates to property owners began a few days ago.

On the Chandrayangutta-Barkas stretch, 111 of the 135 properties have been acquired, while about 40 of the 56 properties on the DRDL stretch have received compensation. But property acquisition on other stretches is yet to pick up pace.

Officials said that demolition works will be grounded in two weeks. "The disbursal of land and structure value cheques is going on. We expect to acquire the properties within two weeks following which estimates will be drawn up for road-widening work," a south zone official said.

Officials say that property acquisition on Zohrabi Durgah stretch where there are maximum number of buildings, could present some difficulty. The GHMC hopes to acquire close to 300 properties on this stretch and widen the existing 30 feet road to 60 feet at some places and 80 feet at other locations.

Road widening works in Old City have been contentious and marked by staunch public opposition. To push forth with long-pending proposals, GHMC constituted a special road-widening team headed by an assistant city planner.

Meanwhile, close to 1,600 properties are set for acquisition for metro rail work by the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited between MGBS and Falaknuma, which constitutes the corridor II of the project.