Bharatiya Janata Party Telangana unit president K. Laxman on Tuesday blamed the State Government for the inundations in the twin cities. He charged that the Government had neglected improvement of the civic infrastructure despite being in power for the last two years.
‘Encroachments allowed’
“How long will Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao keep accusing the previous Governments of neglect? Is it right to make counter attacks on the Opposition and the media for reflecting the situation on the ground? What is stopping him from taking action against those who had resorted to encroachments on the lake beds and storm water drains”, he asked at a press conference.
Flanked by party leaders S. Malla Reddy and others at the party office, Mr. Laxman pointed out that many leaders of the previous governments were now in the ruling party and KCR could start acting from within if he was really serious about improving situation.
“Is there a single stretch of road which has not been damaged? When 99 per cent of roads are damaged, how can he claim that only 10 per cent of roads were damaged?”, he wondered.
It was also not fair to accuse citizens for having built houses on lake beds when the permissions were given by the government agencies.
Special panel
He demanded an immediate constitution of a State-level disaster management committee and a separate one for the city to tackle natural disasters and other emergencies.
The Government should also come out with a perspective plan to tackle disasters and improve civic infrastructure, he suggested.
The Telugu Desam Party Telangana State unit has faulted the Government for the bad road conditions causing severe inconvenience to the residents of the twin cities.
KTR’s failure, says TDP
Party president L. Ramana expressed concern that in spite of his assurances on a 100-day plan to strengthen civic infrastructure in the State Capital, Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao failed to mitigate the sufferings of the people.
Mr. Ramana on Tuesday inaugurated a photo exhibition organised by the party’s city unit displaying the bad road conditions in the city and the absence of proper infrastructure.
He recalled the effective manner in which the then TDP government had handled the situation when the city witnessed 24 cm of rain on a single day in 2000. In contrast, the present dispensation had failed miserably to tackle the sudden rain fury which created a havoc in the capital, he observed.
While the Municipal Administration Minister had failed to handle the situation, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao did not visit the affected areas to instil confidence among the people.
The Telangana TDP would lay siege to the GHMC office if the State Government failed to come up with an action plan to tackle the situation in the next 10 days, he said.
