Hyderabad: Hyderabad Metro system, which became operational only a week ago, has become the target of “fake news” on social media as a photo of a pillar went viral with a false claim that it had developed cracks and could collapse anytime.
The mischief-mongers claimed that the photo was of a pillar on the ‘ISB route’ and asked the people to be very alert.
However, it evoked a strong rebuttal from the Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd managing director NVS Reddy who clarified that the pillar in the photo was not of Hyderabad Metro but a flyover in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
He further said there was no Metro line on the ISB or the Indian School of Business route in the Hitec city.
Pointing out that there was no similarity between the pillar in the photo and the Metro pillars, Reddy said, “the pillars of Hyderabad Metro can withstand thousands of tons of weight and 21 types of stresses — including earthquake”.
Reddy said the photo was more than a year old and he and the minister for IT, K Taraka Rama Rao, had issued clarifications many times. He described the posts on social media a “last ditch-effort to malign Hyderabad Metro” by elements who were jealous of its grand success.
Officials said the miscreants were trying to create panic among the people regarding the Hyderabad Metro which was smoothly and successfully operating on the 30km stretch from Miyapur to Nagole since it was launched by the Prime Minister Narendar Modi on November 28.
Portraits on pillars
Meanwhile, as part of the beautification drive in the city, the pillars of Hyderabad Metro were also being decorated with portraits of the rulers of Golkonda and Qutub Shahi dynasty. One such portrait of Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah, the founder of Hyderabad city, has become a major attraction.
In a related development, the Hyderabad Metro Rail and Uber taxi service have reached an understanding to solve the problem of last mile connectivity to the passengers. Deepak Reddy, general manager, Uber, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, said the Uber service will be available to bring the passengers to the Metro station and also drop them back at their homes from the nearest Metro station. Sharing cab facility will also be available to such passengers.
The passengers wishing to travel by Metro trains were facing a problem because of the lack of feeder service to help them in reaching the station. It was a problem for them to reach the station in their own cars or two wheelers because of the lack of parking facilities at the station.
As part of the MoU, Uber has set up a kiosk at the Miyapur station and Deepak Reddy said that similar kiosks will be set up at all the 24 stations soon.
