K T Rama Rao says a majority of the population in the State would be living in its towns in the coming years

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao emphasised the need for developing urban infrastructure to cater to future needs and coming up with a plan accordingly. He asked officials to formulate a 30-year future plan for every town, keeping in mind the increasing population in urban areas.

The Minister was interacting with the Municipal Commissioners of the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) within the Outer Ring Road during the concluding ceremony of a two-day training programme held at MCRHRD Institute here on Wednesday.

Rama Rao said a majority of the population in the State would be living in its towns in the coming years. About 40 per cent of State’s population was already residing in urban areas and it was likely to grow further, turning Telangana into an Urban State. “We must be prepared to face the challenges of rapid urbanisation. Plans should be chalked out to cater to the needs of the next 30 years and commence necessary work immediately,” he said.

The Minister said providing essential services to the growing population had been the top priority of the State government, and it had chosen decentralisation of administration as a tool for the same. He said the State had brought in new decentralisation policies to take the governance closer to the public. 

He said the government had increased the number of



districts, revenue divisions, mandals, and municipal corporations in the State as a part of the decentralisation. He said the number of municipalities was increased to 141 for better planning and administration.

In the wake of the rapid urbanisation in the surrounding municipalities of Hyderabad, especially along the Outer Ring Road (ORR), Rama Rao asked the municipal authorities to focus on creating essential infrastructure. He also mentioned that these municipalities were funded sufficiently to propel faster development. He wanted the authorities to come up with innovative revenue generation methods.

The Minister asked the officials to prepare a water audit for every municipality to provide drinking water supply. He directed them to pay utmost importance to sanitation and cleanliness in towns and cities. He called for futuristic development of the municipalities surrounding Hyderabad.

Before he began his address, Rama Rao had paid floral tributes to poet Dasaradhi Krishnamacharya on the occasion of his birth anniversary. He also launched a mobile app related to the cleanliness programmes in all the municipalities.

MCRHRD Institute Director-General and Special Chief Secretary BP Acharya, Additional Director-General Harpreet Singh, MA&UD Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar and others attended the programme.