A high-level committee of Ministers and senior officials has been set up by the state government of Telangana to look into the pros and cons of supporting the loss-making Hyderabad Metro and arrive at a policy. The decision by the state government of Telangana comes after L&T, the company which operates the Hyderabad Metro Rail Network, made several requests to it seeking support as due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, heavy losses have been incurred by the elevated rail corridor, as per an official release. A review meeting was recently held by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao with ministers, government and L&T Metro Rail officials, according to a PTI report.
As per L&T Metro rail’s latest annual report, the revenues of Hyderabad Metro rail from operations as well as other income in the last fiscal stood at Rs 228 crore (this includes fare as well as non-fare revenue) as against Rs 598.20 crore revenue for the previous financial year. In the Financial Year 2021, the company’s losses widened to nearly Rs 1,767 crore from Rs 382 crore of previous year on account of disruption in the metro train operations due to low ridership as well as fall in footfalls at real estate operations.
The officials from L&T, at the meeting, discussed financial losses of the Metro Rail Network, Bank loans repayment, mounting interests. They also urged the government to come to their rescue. The Chief Minister assured the top officials of the company that the state government would support Hyderabad Metro and help it to get back on track. The high-level committee will include Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao as well as R&B Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy, among other senior officers as members. The Chief Minister further instructed the committee to soon submit its report on how to save the Metro Rail network from incurring losses after studying all the aspects thoroughly, the report added.
