Allot defence land to develop Hyderabad’s infrastructure, KTR asks Centre

Hyderabad: To push for clearances of bottlenecks delaying road projects in Telangana, minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao met defence minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Friday.

KTR submitted letters to the minister requesting the clearance of various bottlenecks. Most of the defence lands are in the way and the state government requires parts of the land for expressways and roads to connect to Outer Ring Road (ORR).

The infrastructure projects for which government needs land include:

- Development of a skywalk at Rythu Bazaar, Mehdipatnam to minimise traffic congestion and road accidents on that stretch. The government needs 0.2 hectares of defence land to be transferred to the project.

- Construction of an elevator corridor on Rajiv Rahadari from Paradise junction to ORR at Shamirpet for which 94.2 acres of defence land needs to be transferred.

- Construction of an elevator corridor on Nagpur Highway (NH 44) for which transfer of 56.19 acres of defence land is needed.

- Defence lands to be transferred for road widening at Banjara Hills, Kanchan Baug, Zohrabi Dargah, Andhra Flour mill and Tipu Bridge.

KTR will also meet Urban Development minister Hardeep Singh Puri for the expansion of the metro rail from Lakdi-ka-pul to BHEL and Nagole to LB Nagar.

“For the successful completion of SRDP projects, we require four acres of land at Rasoolpura. For this, my team and I will be meeting home minister Amit Shah. The Centre should join hands with the state government of Telangana as we are working for the development of the state. We have sent similar appeals to Union minister Kishan Reddy but there is no response. For that reason, I have come with my team to directly appeal to the Central ministers to work for the development of the state,” said KTR.

He further said, “The road works and metro rail project are important for Telangana. If these projects are not cleared, we will take this issue to the people of the state.”

With the ensuing general elections in Telangana, pressure is high on the government to complete the projects. These pending works due to bottlenecks are leading to traffic congestion which is becoming a major concern for citizens.