By DC Correspondent

Copyright deccanchronicle

Hyderabad: After a record 18-year tenure, Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) managing director NVS Reddy was finally relieved from the post on Tuesday. The state government issued orders transferring him and appointed HMDA commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmad as the in-charge HMRL MD, giving him full additional charge. However, the government has retained Reddy’s services by appointing him as Advisor on Urban Transport for a period of two years.Reddy, a senior officer from the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), first came to undivided Andhra Pradesh on deputation from the union railway ministry in 2002, joining APNPDCL as executive director (finance). A year later, he was posted as additional commissioner in the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (now GHMC) and also served as project director of MMTS. In April 2007, during the tenure of then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, he was appointed HMRL MD. Following his request, he was absorbed permanently into the state government in January 2009. Though he retired from service in 2016, successive governments continued him in the post through extensions, allowing him to complete 18 years and five months as MD.Reddy had secured a fresh one-year extension from April 1 this year, which was supposed to keep him in office until March 31, 2026. But the latest orders ended his tenure nearly six-and-a-half months ahead of schedule.Official sources indicated that his public remarks on the financial stress of the Hyderabad Metro project contributed to the decision. At an event in November 2024, Reddy said that L&T, the concessionaire of the Metro, had been incurring annual losses of about Rs 1,300 crore, which had ballooned to Rs 6,000 crore over the years. He further said banks were reluctant to finance the Metro expansion in the city. These statements, made at a time when the Congress government under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was planning a major extension of the Metro rail network in city, reportedly did not go down well with the administration. His comments also coincided with speculation that L&T was seeking to exit the project due to mounting losses.Meanwhile, the government also carried out a minor reshuffle of IAS officers on Tuesday. Shruti Ojha, on return from study leave, was posted as Director, Women, Child Development and Senior Citizens, relieving G. Srijana of additional charge. S. Krishna Aditya, Director of Intermediate Education, was placed in FAC of the post of Secretary, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, relieving K. Seetha Lakshmi. Kota Sreevatsa, Joint Metropolitan Commissioner, HMDA, was posted as Joint Metropolitan Commissioner (General) and given FAC as Secretary, HMDA, replacing R. Upender Reddy, who was transferred.