Regional Ring Road in focus
A fter the Outer Ring Road, it is now the turn of the Regional Ring Road, the 338 km long highway encircling the city at a uniform distance of 50 km from the centre of the city.
A brain child of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the project is considered to further speed up access to districts bypassing the city and avoiding traffic congestions.
No sooner had the Chief Minister announced the project, the Roads and Buildings Department focussed its attention on the regional ring road and is working overtime to complete the modalities.
TheRoads and Buildings Department aims to call global bids for selection of consultant by the month-end for the purpose of preparation of detailed project report.
Srihari pitches for pvt. varsities
T elangana doesn’t want to lose out on private players setting up their universities as the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has opened the gates to top institutes in the country to establish private universities.
With Hyderabad already a favourite destination for academic institutions on account of location and the student pool, the government is obviously worried that it might lose advantage if the decision is delayed. More worrisome for the Telangana Government is the fact that Andhra Pradesh has already convinced some top private universities to start their institutions in the State.
Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari dropped hints in the Assembly lobbies the other day that the government did not want to lose the race nor time in the matter. He argued that with 24 out of 29 States in the country having already welcomed private players in the form of deemed or private universities, there is nothing wrong if Telangana too takes a positive decision.
Opposition on the back foot
T he month long session of TS Assembly has not only taken the sting out of the Opposition but will go down as the longest of the season in recent years.
That the Opposition was pushed to the back foot was apparent from the words of one of its leaders when he asked why extend the session and instead continue it into the budget session as it was due to commence after a short gap in mid-February.
The winter session commenced on December 16 and was twice extended, the latest prolonging the business up to January 18 with the prospect of further extension if the government decides that it had to put the record straight on issues that could not be discussed.
The decision caught the Opposition off guard because it could no longer complain that the government shied away from burning issues facing the State. Otherwise, the Opposition routinely blames the government for not extending the sessions on this count.
Party for BCs in the making
T he Legislative Council election to the lone teachers constituency representing Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar could see the emergence of a new party that seeks to exclusively represent the Backward Classes. Plans are afoot to set up the party by Telugu Desam MLA and a well-known BC leader R. Krishnaiah. Though he said negotiations are taking place to float the party, he announced the candidature of a teacher for the MLC election scheduled in March first or second week. Mr. Krishnaiah voiced his concern that none of the existing parties or governments gave enough attention to issues of BCs and thus, a dedicated political for their political representation was the need of the hour.
(M. RAJEEV,
R. RAVIKANTH REDDY,
N. RAHUL& ROHIT PS)
