Central Park, being developed on the sprawling old Central Jail land in the heart of the city, will be named after former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who passed away on Monday.
This was decided during a review of the ongoing and proposed projects in the city with senior officials, Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao said here on Thursday. The park would be developed on international standards. After watching a power-point presentation made by a Mumbai-based agency during the meeting, the Minister felt there was nothing new in it and wanted a better proposal.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao, after reviewing the projects, their need for land, status of the land and compensation associated with it and other issues with Collector N. Yuvaraj, GVMC Commissioner Pravin Kumar, Joint Collector J. Nivas, VUDA Vice-Chairman T. Baburao Naidu and other senior officials, said that 92 pending issues were identified and they would be pursued in a time-bound manner. He wanted the officials to update him on the issues so that he could take them up during Cabinet meetings. “Cabinet is meeting every week and we can raise the issues and get them cleared without delay,” he said.
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Regarding the Simhachalam Devasthanam lands, he said even if they were allotted to an IT company or other project, the ownership would remain with the devasthanam and it would get the accruing benefits. The Minister also said there would be radical changes in the VUDA, against which there were some complaints.
The issue of VUDA being served notice to pay Rs. 261 crore as income tax would also be sorted out, he said. He was confident that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would sort out all issues.