After prolonged litigation the demolition of Jabbar building begins. Delay in acquiring this property has led to halt in digging at three Metro piers.

The Jabbar building on busy Begumpet road which was also considered a traffic bottleneck for over a decade finally came under the axe on Monday night.

In a joint operation by the GHMC and Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) officials, the building located beside Alladdin building and the Shopper’s Stop is being demolished.

After prolonged litigation and other issues, the demolition work has been taken up after a compensation of Rs.5.87 crore was paid for 635 sq.yards of land structure. “We will complete the demolition and provide space for road within a week”, said HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy.

“Delay in acquiring this property has led to halt in digging at three piers for the metro rail project and also for the proposed Prakashnagar overhead station because traffic would have been disrupted on this busy stretch,” he explained.

Metro Rail authorities have already deposited a sum of Rs.2.14 crore for 666 sq.yards open space of Alladdin building where extra road width of 40 ft was obtained after excavation of earth.

Mr. Reddy also informed the weekly special task force meeting to oversee the metro project implementation about this “major announcement” and said a balance of 204 properties – 157 private and 47 Government vested municipal properties remain across the three metro corridors.

More work fronts

The city traffic police chief, Additional Commissioner Jitender, offered to provide more work fronts to the L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) provided their engineering designs for the proposed piers are ready, to provide for barricading on Punjagutta-Ameerpet road and also at the Secunderabad railway station.

Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, presiding over the meeting, appreciated the joint efforts being made by various departments for expediting the metro rail works and efforts to minimise inconvenience to the commuters. He further advised joint inspections and coordination meetings to improve roads on the metro corridors. Top officials were present at the meeting.