Karimnagar still waiting for promised face-lift

KCR promised development during his visit in August 2014

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s promise of developing Karimnagar town on a par with London and New York cities remains a distant dream in spite of making the announcement during his visit to Karimnagar town on August 5, 2014.

Karimnagar town, the epicentre of Telangana movement, cannot boast of good infrastructure facilities roads, footpaths, parks, rythu bazaars and recreational facilities etc. When the Chief Minister announced that he would develop Karimnagar town on a par with London and New York cities, residents were overjoyed and they expected that the town would get a face-lift.

However, even after two years of the announcement, there is no forward movement on the development of the town on any front. Though, the Chief Minister promised to develop gardens on the lines of Brindavan on a sprawling 300 acres of land on the shores of LMD reservoir, the authorities could identify only 30 acres of SRSP land. The authorities wanted to develop the existing Ujwala Park by renaming it as PV Narasimha Rao park and allocated Rs 49 lakhs for the purpose.

Before the Chief Minister's announcement of grandiose plans for transforming Karimnagar town, the State Government had allocated Rs 46 crore for beautification of 14.6 km stretch of R&B roads in the town.

However, the beautification drive led to the axing of many fully grown trees and the road laying works are progressing at a snail's pace.

The underground drainage (UGD) works taken up eight years ago are yet to be completed and the Karimnagar City Renovation (KCR) project launched by local legislator Gangula Kamalakar has already been shelved. "The CM had promised to give a face-lift to Karimnagar town. The town would transform automatically into a modern one if there is transparency and less corruption in government offices,” opined N Srinivas, a consumer activist.

Official sources said that the government had allocated Rs 100 crore in the State budget for the development of the town on all fronts. They also said that they would develop the Brindavan gardens with the available land on the shore of LMD reservoir.