A meeting of the Cabinet on Sunday evening decided to organise a 10-day ‘Pattana Pragathi’ programme to ground developmental works in municipalities and municipal corporations from February 24 with focus on sanitation and greenery.
The over six hour meeting, presided by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, also decided to conduct a State-level conference of mayors, municipal chairpersons, commissioners, MLAs, collectors and additional collectors at the Chief Minister’s Camp Office here on February 18 to finalise guidelines for the programme.
A release later said the participants in the conference will go on a field visit to Gajwel mandal headquarters in the afternoon session of the conference to study the local vegetarian and non-vegetarian market and cremation grounds.
The programme will be implemented with ward as a unit and it will have a special officer as supervising authority. Four people’s committees should be constituted in the next five days in each ward of corporations and municipalities to execute the works.
Funds release
Mr. Rao left instructions that the government should release ₹ 78 crore per month for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and ₹ 70 crore per month in all for rest of the corporations and municipalities in the State from the Finance Commission funds. Thus, urban areas in the State will get ₹ 148 crore per month.
From the 14th Finance Commission funds, Mr. Rao ordered that ₹ 311 crore be given to GHMC and ₹ 500 crore for other corporations and municipalities.
He laid emphasis on greenery, sanitation works and cleaning up of drainages in the 10-day drive. It was decided to keep 3,100 vehicles for sanitation works. Already 600 vehicles had arrived while the balance 2,500 should be arranged and shifted to towns.
Sapling plantation
Mr. Rao asked authorities to plant saplings in a big way. They should identify places in wards to set up nurseries. Strengthening drinking water network, improvement of roads and identification of sites for setting up cremation and burial grounds were other suggestions that he made.
He also wanted them to take steps to build playgrounds and open gyms, vegetarian and non-vegetarian markets, dumpyards, public toilets and parking lots. Officials should not harass street vendors till alternative places were offered to them.
Abrogate CAA
The Cabinet requested the Central government to take steps to abrogate the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 as it will lead to discrimination on the basis of religion while granting citizenship and, thereby, jeopardise secularism envisaged in the Constitution.
It was decided to pass a resolution to this effect in the State Assembly as was done in Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal, a release said.
The Cabinet also appealed to the Union government not to discriminate people on the basis of religion for according Indian citizenship. All religions must be treated on par in the eyes of law.
Congress schemes
The Cabinet decided to sell the flats constructed for urban poor under Rajiv Swagruha programme of the Congress government in combined A.P. To work out the modalities for sale of these houses that were constructed in blocks, the Cabinet decided to constitute a committee comprising Special Chief Secretary, Housing, Chitra Ramachandran, Principal Secretary, Finance, K. Ramakrishna Rao and Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration, Arvind Kumar.
The Cabinet also decided to thoroughly review other programmes of the Congress government, including Abhaya Hastham, Bangaru Thalli and Vaddileni Runalu.
The responsibility for reviewing Abhaya Hastham was entrusted to Finance Minister T. Harish Rao and Panchayat Raj Secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania.
The Cabinet approved the Ordinance promulgated on Lokayukta and decided to introduce the concerned Bill in the budget session of Assembly.
