KTR challenges BJP leader over Central funds to Telangana

Throwing a tough challenge to corporators and State leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party to impress upon the Centre to get Rs 10,000 crore for the development of Hyderabad, Municipal Administration & Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday said it was time the Opposition rose above politics to join hands for development of the city.

Exhorting BJP’s corporators to get their national leaders, including union Minister G Kishan Reddy to get the Centre sanction Rs 10,000 crore for developmental projects including the Musi Project and nala development works, Rao said he would ensure that they were felicitated in a grand manner if they managed to get the funds from the Central government.

There were bitter verbal wars during elections, but after that, the focus had to be back on improving facilities and infrastructure through joint and concerted efforts, he said, pointing out to the BJP corporators that even 18 months after the



October 2020 floods, the Centre had not released a single paisa to the State as flood relief.

The State government was revamping stormwater drains at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore, he said, adding that the Centre, being a ‘bigger government’, should actually chip in with double the share for whatever developmental work the State initiated.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the Strategic Nala Development Programme works in Bandlaguda, Nagole, the Minister also said that in LB Nagar constituency alone, developmental works with an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore were taken up which include a series of flyovers and underpasses built with Rs 672 crore.

“In a similar manner, developmental works are being taken up across Hyderabad under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. Such works are not restricted to Jubilee Hills or Banjara Hills alone,” he said.