Hyderabad: Refuting Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy’s allegations that he was blocking the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) loan to Hyderabad metro rail project, union minister G Kishan Reddy said the IRFC loan got stuck as there were issues with the Centre over certain conditions in the agreement for loan disbursement. He said the Telangana CM Revanth Reddy was not agreeing to modify certain conditions especially repayment of the loan as suggested by the Centre.“CM Revanth Reddy has been making false accusations against me on metro rail project for the past few days, which are totally false. Making baseless accusations is unbecoming of someone holding the CM post. The BJP does not have the culture of blocking the funds to the states. PM Narendra Modi or Centre or me require any certificate from the CM on the commitment to the development of Telangana. We are answerable to Telangana people, not to the Revanth Reddy or Congress party,” Kishan Reddy told media at a press conference in Delhi.He said CM Revanth Reddy met union minister for housing and urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar several times on this issue, who suggested changes in the agreement with IRFC. But the state govt is not coming forward for any changes. The union minister said he spoke to his ministerial colleague Khattar on this issue on Tuesday morning who clarified the issue.“The Centre wants to repay the IRFC loan Rs 13,600 crore being taken for taking over Phase I of metro rail project from L&T after meeting the operational and maintenance (O&M) of the metro rail project from its revenues like ticket and advertisement etc. But the CM wants to repay the loan amount first and meet the balance amount for the O&M. I have even advised the CM to think about the sustainability of the Phase I of the metro project instead of the repayment, the O&M costs have to be met first,’ Kishan Reddy said.He said across the country, metro system does not immediately use revenues to clear the loans first. Metro revenue must first meet the O&M expenses. Even Jaipur metro is also following the Centre’s suggestions that they meet the O&M first and repayment next, the union minister said.“This issue should be settled through dialogue, not public criticism. Both the Telangana govt and ministry of urban affairs have to sit and resolve it on conditions and No Objection Certificate for loan disbursement,” Kishan Reddy said. He said earlier too, when BRS was in power, metro rail project got delayed by three years in the name of alignment changes. Now Revanth Reddy is acting in similar manner, he added.Centre provided funds for various projects in Telangana:Kishan Reddy said he did not obstruct the progress of Telangana as alleged by the CM and the BJP govt and I have always wanted developmental works in Telangana. He recalled the Centre had given Rs 1,250 crore to the Phase I of Hyderabad metro rail project“The central government in principle, agreed to move ahead with Phase 2 on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis. The union urban affairs minister conveyed this when he met both me and the CM. The Centre provided ₹1,250 crore for Metro Phase 1, and Prime Minister Modi personally inaugurated the project. As with metro projects in other cities, the Centre will support Hyderabad after technical discussions. It is not something that can be stopped simply because Kishan Reddy says No,” he said.Kishan Reddy said the govt had sanctioned national highway projects worth Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the state and also several projects like Kakaitya Mega Textile Park, modernisation of 42 railway stations, and many other projects were sanctioned by the Centre. Recently, the Centre had provided Rs 11,000 crore interest free loans for 50 years and we also helped to secure Rs 4,100 crore loans from the Asian Development Bank for Musi rejuvenation project and Rs 34,000 crore for Paddy procurement, the union minister explained.
