Telangana government is committed to sustainable urban development through citizen participation and has invested about ₹1.22 lakh crore through the department of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) alone for improvement of civic infrastructure such as drinking water, sewerage network, roads, solid waste management and urban transport.
“I am not claiming everything was transformed but whatever has been done was sincere and there is lots to do. I urge citizens to compare the conditions prior to 2014 and now from GHMC to the Tier Two cities. Cities are the engines of growth generating 75% income and we have to be conscious of the State’s financial health. Otherwise the social sector funding too will get affected,” said Minister for MA&UD, IT and Industries K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday.
Releasing the 10-year report of the municipal works along with the proposed action plan for the next decade, the Minister told a press conference that the funding for urban areas is 462.8% more when compared to the previous decade of 2004-14 when ₹26,211.50 crore was spent. “From this funding, 91.8% (₹1.12 lakh crore) has come from the government and only 8% (₹9,934 crore) from the Centre under the Finance Commission grants with not a single extra paisa,” he asserted.
The Minister pointed out that details are being given voluntarily and not because anyone had demanded for “transparency” and loans for many works have been taken which should be treated as capital expenditure and because of the repayment capacity. He thanked Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao for his instructions and for releasing funds for the department to showcase to the citizens.
GHMC housing 1.26 crore people obviously got the lion’s share of about ₹1.26 lakh crore and this was 850% more when compared to the previous decade when ₹44,021 crore was spent, he said. He talked about various projects taken up for drinking water, sewerage, storm water drains, solid waste management, etc.
“We have worked effectively though much more needs to be done to extend the metro rail, increase drinking water and sewage network, public transport and others. If Indore and Mysore can do it, why can’t we,” he said.
Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, Special chief secretary Arvind Kumar, Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director NVS Reddy, GHMC Commissioner Ronald Rose and his predecessor Lokesh Kumar were present.
Published - July 05, 2023 08:01 pm IST
