Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao today said that it appears as if the defence establishment ran a “parallel government” and a “parallel system” by setting up obstacles to development of road infrastructure in Hyderabad.
“They feel they are not part of the State,” he said at a press conference while referring to instances of closure of roads and the inability of State government to develop roads running through the cantonment.
He cited the frustrating experience of driving through Paradise - Shamirpet and Patny - Kompally roads as they were choked with traffic and commuters taking hours to reach their destination as they are narrow. This was brought to the notice of Prime Minister and Defence Minister several times with a request to let the State government develop them.
A check dam was also constructed across a `nala’ in the cantonment of Langar Houz which threatened to submerge a tank nearby. The nala was the outlet for rainwater coming from Banjara Hills.
Mr. Rao said tens of civic issues of Hyderabad are pending clearance with the Centre. The government will ferret them out and seek their redressal by taking to streets and launching protests. The government adopted a dignified approach with the Centre in the last seven-and-a-half years but it’s time to raise its head now, he said.
The Centre only releases funds which the State is entitled to as a matter of constitutional right. It never got additional money like Bengaluru where the Centre is liberal in releasing ₹17,000 crore for metro rail.
Mr. Rao said there is no dearth of funds for infrastructure development in the State. Its double bed room housing which had already cost the exchequer
₹
18,000 crore is the largest in the country. One double bed room house is equal to ten Indiramma houses constructed by the previous Congress regime, he said.
The government spent
₹
3,000 crore from Telangana Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation on capital works and payment of wages to municipal staff. The wages of sanitation workers were increased four times after the TRS came to power. They got
₹
12,000 a month in Hyderabad, he said.
