The forthcoming Swachh Hyderabad programme should have a long-term strategy and focus on actual needs of people like health care, parks, better transport, slum improvement, uninterrupted power supply and security to life and property, said Forum for Good Governance secretary, M. Padmanabha Reddy.
Welcoming the novel initiative taken up by the Telangana government on Tuesday, he said that aspects like safe and affordable drinking water, proper drainage network and pollution-free environs should be given more importance than features like multi-grade separators. These aspects were gathered after having interactions with residents of different areas in the city, he said.
“What the Hyderabad people need is something different from the plans being prepared by the municipal corporation,” Mr. Reddy quipped. The long-term plans made by the GHMC did not even involve departments like Pollution Control Board, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply & Sewerage Board and others, he pointed out.
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Taking up Swachh Hyderabad for four days will not yield much results as we need a long-term strategy, advocated the Forum’s vice-president Rao Chelikani. “For better results, the initiative should be spread out say till 2019, have people’s participation and involve the civil society,” he said.
The city has about 200 senior citizen associations and numerous resident welfare associations which should be roped in apart from subject experts in various fields, Dr. Chelikani suggested.