In a major fillip to infrastructure for the twin cities, the government has announced a new project to bring more drinking water from Sunkesula near Nagarjunasagar at a total cost of ₹1,450 crore. An initial amount of ₹725 crore has been proposed in the budget presented by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
The government also proposed to allocate ₹1,000 crore for the second phase of Metro rail project, presumably for the much-awaited link to the RGI Airport at Shamshabad. Around ₹750 crore for land acquisition for taking up the proposed 348 km Regional Ring Road (RRR), ₹200 crore for the restoration of River Musi and beautification of the river front and another ₹250 crore for provision of drinking water to the newly-formed colonies within Outer Ring Road, are among the other important allocations announced.
Mr. Harish Rao allotted a total of ₹15,030 crore for the Municipal Administration & Urban Development department with the government assuring to construct integrated vegetable and non-vegetable markets in all towns and cities akin to the one built in Gajwel at a combined cost of ₹500 crore and a renewed focus on building sufficient number of public toilets and modernise the identified cremation sites at a cost of ₹200 crore.
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The Minister said that the government has recognised the need to improve the facilities in urban areas and therefore, brought out the new Municipality Act specifying the powers and responsibilities of public representatives as well as the rules and regulations to ensure transparent urban administration.
Construction of public toilets will be taken up on an extensive scale for the convenience of people and in this financial year, 9,216 public toilets were built making 14,020 toilets available for public use across the municipalities, corporations and GHMC. The objective is to have one toilet for 1,000 population and based on the necessity, more toilets will be constructed.
An amount of ₹148 crore has been sanctioned every month for ‘Pattana Pragati’ so that the urban local bodies do not face any fund crunch. Mr. Rao claimed the government has formulated special plans for the development of Hyderabad and implementing them.
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This has resulted in the capital standing first for the second time in terms of social, economic, real estate and employment parameters as per “the study conducted at the international level”. Construction of nine flyovers, four under-passes and three road-over-bridges has been completed in the city. During the corona period, construction of flyovers, 300 km of roads and 29 link roads were completed at a cost of ₹2,000 crore, he said.
The recently completed Durgam Cheruvu Cable Stayed Bridge has not only eased traffic congestion in the area but has also become a tourist attraction. The government has also been providing meals at ₹5 to 55,000 persons daily through the 179 Annapurna canteens.
He also claimed that the government’s promise of providing 20,000 litres of free drinking water during the GHMC elections has reduced the financial burden on the poor and middle class. Therefore, ₹250 crore is being allocated for the same. Warangal Municipal Corporation is being given ₹250 crore and Khammam ₹150 crore for development works, he added.