The decision of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to carve out 14 or 15 new districts by reorganising the existing 10 has not only set in motion intense action in official circles, but also stirred up reactions in eight districts for and against the new proposals. People are divided and taking to streets in all areas except Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts.
Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma, who has been directed to hurry through the proposals at least by the end of third week of May so that the Chief Minister could make an announcement on Telangana Formation Day on June 2, recently held a meeting with District Collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy and was understood to have discussed the idea of creating four districts in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) area. However, the criteria of maintaining equidistance of different areas to the district headquarters while deciding the contours of the new districts has become a major headache to the officials as they were not fitting uniformly. A tall order indeed for officials, given that the government wants to make the new districts functional from August 15.
Relaxing green policy for industries
The Telangana government has relaxed its green policy or so it seems when it comes to industrialisation. The State, which is strongly promoting ‘go-green’ drives including Harita-Haram is also offering a strange deal to those who want to cut down trees for setting up industrial units.
The trees can be cut at affordable ‘people friendly’ cost. All that one needs to do is to apply online for permission from the government on the basis of self-certification to cut ornamental and other minor trees at a meagre cost of Rs. 50 per tree in residential and Rs. 100 per tree in commercial areas. For protected trees the cost is just a bit higher. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and forest range officers will give permission for protected trees like teak, rosewood, red sanders and sandalwood after the applicants pay a security deposit of Rs. 400 a tree. Of course, they will have to plant double the number of chopped trees at alternative sites.
Request to stop promotions
About 25 doctors of teaching hospitals met Health Minister C. Laxma Reddy and Principal Secretary Rajeswar Tiwari at the Secretariat last week requesting that the promotion of doctors at these hospitals in Telangana should not be taken up immediately as they would stand to lose since they were issued orders to serve AP government till the bifurcation of staff between the two States was completed. The grouse of the doctors was that their juniors would become professors ahead of them and that they would have to work under the latter when they returned to Telangana. Nevertheless, the delegation had sympathy with their colleagues who were to retire in a month or two. It was all for their promotion.
House site plots remain elusive
Just when members of the Fourth Estate had reason to celebrate with the government’s assurance of house site plots for them at Budwel in Hyderabad, the proposal seems to have hit a roadblock. Initially, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao promised them land at Budwel, adjacent to Rajendra Nagar, but his son and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao asked officials to get in touch with journalist unions to see if their members could be accommodated at Miyapur.
The reason is the Telangana government has got a hunch that the Centre was disinclined towards IT Investment Regions — Telangana is one of the beneficiaries of the programme — and hence decided to go ahead with its own IT parks. Therefore, the government sanctioned 11 parks in addition to MoU signed with several companies in the past and existing parks.
Since each of them would require nothing less than 50 acres along the growth corridor adjoining the ORR, Budwel was a natural choice.
B. CHANDRASHEKHAR, NIKHILA HENRY, N. RAHUL AND SURESH KRISHNAMOORTHY
