KCR promises new look for Old City

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday pledged his support to develop the Old City on par with other areas in the State capital and deliver two lakh well-equipped houses for the poor within the next one year.

The Chief Minister made this announcement during his whirlwind tour of the city on the final day of the ongoing Swachh Hyderabad-Swachh Telangana programme.

The CM toured various localities of old city along with local public representatives and State government officials. Deputy CM Mohd Mahmood Ali, State cabinet minister G Jagadish Reddy, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, and GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar accompanied him during the visit. He visited areas like Dabeerpura Sayyed Saabka Baada, Saidabad, Kurmaguda, Saroornagar, Dilsukhnagar Rythu bazaar and other areas.

Addressing a gathering of residents at Dabeerpura, Chief Minister pointed out that for six months the administration of Telangana State could not take off due to the non-allocation of officers for nearly six months. However, with the allocation completed, efforts were being made to speed up various development and welfare activities, he observed.

He reminded the gathering that the TRS government had dispelled the propaganda that the new State would be faced with acute power shortage. Likewise, Telangana State is marching ahead by initiating various welfare programmes for the people and development activities to usher in Bangaru Telangana, he said.

Referring to various issues and problems being faced by the people in the area, the Chief Minister immediately announced a grant of Rs 12 crore for constructing a water reservoir with a 1000 KL capacity to mitigate the drinking water problem. He also directed the concerned officials to begin the work immediately, apart from sanctioning Rs 25 crore to begin underground drainage works immediately in the area. He also instructed officials to identify land for setting up a 133-KV substation in the area. He said that poor families in Old city would get full-fledged houses from the state government.

Reminding the residents about the age-old cultural heritage and peaceful co-existence of people for the past few centuries, he stressed on the importance of communal harmony to take Old City forward on the path of development and appealed to the residents to continue the Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb of Hyderabad.

He also visited the famous Kothapet fruit market near Saroornagar and interacted with people



and farmers. Later, he asked the civic officials to keep the market premises and surroundings clean and avoid stagnation of water that may lead to stink and possible spread of diseases. As the market is visited by a large number of people and many vehicles bring fruits of myriad varieties to the market every day, the officials should see that adequate staff is pressed into service to clear garbage before it gets piled up, he said.

He also asked people to make use of dust bins put up near the compound wall and try to keep it clean.Directing the civic officials to place adequate number of dust bins at the market and ask the consumers to use them, KCR said staff should keep the premises clean by regular sweeping and spreading of bleaching powder. He said cleanliness is godliness and one has to voluntarily participate in the clean drive at their homes and premises.

He also visited Saroornagar Lake and was moved by the plight of the tank as it was being polluted by diversion of drain water from three different nalas of the surrounding areas. He observed the encroachments that have come up around the lake. The locals informed the Chief Minister that the flood water was inundating the residences located within the half kilometer radius of the lake during monsoon and urged him to immediately solve the problem.

Responding to the plea of the residents, the CM assured them of diverting the nala water to Musi River by putting check on the flow of water into the lake. Noting that the pollution of the lakes was the result of rulers of the erstwhile state, he said that the city was left with 164 lakes as against the number 1100 lakes earlier. During his visit to NTR Nagar slum of Dilsukhnagar, the Chief Minister promised to construct 1000 houses for the poor in the area.

Raising the issue of Bhimrao Bada residents near Congress Party headquarters Gandhi Bhavan, K Chandrasekhar Rao said he would talk to Congress leaders to convince them to give up their plans to construct their office in the area and added the state would allot land for the construction of the Congress Party’s office at a different location.

K Chandrasekhar Rao also visited Singam Cheruvu Tanda of Nacharam in Uppal assembly constituency. Moved by the plight of tribals staying in small houses consisting of narrow rooms, the Chief Minister announced of constructing G + 2 model houses for the slum dwellers. He instructed the officials to take up the survey for the project from Thursday.