Reminding the Chief Minister that it was he who had said that ‘the ‘Real Hyderabad’ is in the old city and its beautification cannot be stopped,’ Telugu Desam Party Floor Leader in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Singi Reddy Srinivas Reddy on Sunday wondered if the pressures of running the government were effecting Mr N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s memory.
Mr Srinivas Reddy told that the Chief Minister had, perhaps in a bid to woo residents of the Old City, declared that Rs 20 crore would be released to the beleaguered Quli Qutub Shah Urban Development Authority so that it can take up the pending welfare works.
“However, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy’s words remained empty promises, with not a single paisa released to the QQSUDA, even as the Financial Year 2010-2011 has ended on March 31,” the TDP leader told INN.
It may be remembered that Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy had made this promise during his tour of the Barkas and Hafiz Baba Nagar as part of the Racha Banda programme.
The Chief Minister had also instructed Revenue officials to hand over documents of a 30 acre plot of land, belonging to the Muslim Wakf Board which had earlier been acquired by the government, to its rightful owner. This followed the earlier nod by former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy to release 80 acres of the original plot of land belonging to the Wakf Board.
This point was raised in the recently concluded Budget Session of the state Assembly, to which the Chief Minister had said that the transfer process was going on. “How long would this process take? The Chief Minister is so insecure that he trusts no one and takes days to clear any file, leading to pendency of files,” the TDP leader stated.
Apart from the Rs 20 crore promised to the QQSUDA, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy had instructed Hyderabad Collector Natarajan Gulzar to identify a plot of land so that the campus of the National Academy of Construction could be set up in the Old City. “Even this promise has not been kept and there has been no visible action,” Mr Srinivas Reddy pointed out.
The TDP leader added that that the state government had made innumerable promises during the Rachcha Banda aimed to address people’s problems and take government welfare programmes to their doorsteps, which was organised in the state at a cost of over 2,500 crore, but there are no results as yet.
Reminding that the Chief Minister himself had stated on the Floor of the state Assembly that 1.5 crore people attended the programme and out of 66 lakh applications received, 60 lakh were in need of Pavala Vaddi (interest) and 32 lakh for ration cards, the TDP leader wondered what action was being taken to keep these promises.
“As many as 4.63 lakh applications were received for ration cards, according to the words of the Chief Minister. Has the government done anything about these applications? Has the government even bothered to instruct the officials to brush the dust off these applications which had been lying in the offices?”, the TDP leader questioned.
The government had accepted petitions for house sites too, Mr Srinivas Reddy pointed out and said that though so many promises were made, all the petitions received during the programme were gathering dust.
The TDP leader reminded that he has already given an ultimatum to the government to list out the action taken on the promises made during Racha Banda or else face legal action.