Telangana: Environmentalists oppose Regional Ring Road

Road alignment was always subject to pressures from real estate lobby and invariably impacting the poor, said Public Policy Expert Donthi Narasimha Reddy in a letter to Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari on Friday.

Hyderabad: Environmentalists have appealed to the State government to withdraw the proposed Regional Ring Road (RRR) project charging that it would severely affect fertile agricultural lands, and densely populated villages.

Precious agricultural lands would be lost for taking up the project, which has minimal gains for local people. Road alignment was always subject to pressures from real estate lobby and invariably impacting the poor, said Public Policy Expert Donthi Narasimha Reddy in a letter to Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari on Friday. In the past, he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 30, 2022 and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on November 22, 2022 over the RRR issue.

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Both RRR and Outer Ring Road (ORR) fall under Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Area (HMDA) limits. In the past, ORR had undergone several changes in its alignment, ultimately burdening the public exchequer, environment and the poor people. Similarly, the design of RRR project was not inclusive and would affect economic growth prospects of the local people he pointed out.

So far, the Telangana government had not clarified whether it was planning to acquire additional land around the proposed RRR, from the transport corridor. Alignment maps should have been shared with the panchayats, which were affected, directly or indirectly, he said.

Unless a comprehensive environmental impact assessment was prepared, evaluation of ORR was done, for its benefits and impacts, comprehensive transport plan for the State and review and finalization of HMDA Master Plan, all activities related to RRR should be stopped, he demanded.