‘Apna Hyderabad’, says Congress govt with Rs 10,000 crores budget allocation

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is the economic growth engine that drives the State of Telangana and the Congress government is moving in the direction of taking maximum leverage out of it.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy-led Congress government has pumped in a whopping Rs 10,000 crores for the development of Hyderabad in its budget for the financial year 2024-25 presented in the Telangana State Assembly on Thursday.

The integrated growth of Hyderabad would enable the Government to mobilise huge resources for the development of the State. Keeping this in view, we have proposed in this budget, a big figure of Rs 10,000 crores for the development of Hyderabad, deputy CM and finance minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu said.

“The Congress government is developing the city of Hyderabad as a top priority. We are moving forward by investing the necessary funds to develop the ecosystem needed for the creation of jobs and employment opportunities for the youth of the State. We have given the highest priority to the development of Hyderabad, vital for the development of the State,” Bhatti said in an informal interaction with media later in the day.

Allocation for civic services in city

Government agencies such as the GHMC, HMDA and HMWSSB play a very important role in providing civic services to the population of Hyderabad. For an effective and better provision of services, the government has proposed Rs 3,065 crores to GHMC, Rs 500 crores to HMDA and Rs 3,385 crores to HMWSSB in the budget.

Apart from these, the Congress government has proposed Rs 1,500 crores for the Musi Riverfront project, Rs 200 crores for HYDRAA, Rs 200 crores for ORR and Rs 50 crores for MMTS. As much as Rs 1,100 crores have been allocated for the Metro Rail overall expansion – Rs 100 crores for the extension of the metro to the airport, Rs 500 crores for Hyderabad Metro Rail, Rs 500 crores for the extension of the metro to the Old City.

BRS utterly neglected Hyderabad for 10 years: Bhatti

Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu recollected the services of the previous Congress governments in developing Hyderabad into an international city.

However, due to the utter neglect over the past decade, this city is still facing severe problems in sanitation, sewerage and drinking water, the deputy CM said.

“Hussain Sagar and Musi have vastly deteriorated due to pollution and they have shrunk to a large extent. The onset of monsoons is creating havoc in the city and life comes to a standstill every year. Projects made without foresight and the proliferation of illegal constructions hurt the city’s development. Thousands of crores of rupees have gone to the government exchequer through the sale of valuable lands in and around Hyderabad. However, the funds were not spent for the improvement of Hyderabad City,” rued Bhatti.

Metro expansion with Rs 24,042 crores but only Old City’s stretch gets funded

One of the major problems the city is facing is the increased traffic congestion on roads.

One way to tackle the problem is to strengthen the public transport and Metro Rail networks, one of the most important components of public transport.

Presently, Hyderabad has a Metro facility in three corridors. Learning from the experience of establishing the Metro's first phase, the Congress government has re-examined the second phase proposals and modified them accordingly.

The government is proposing to develop 78.4 km of 5 extended corridors with an outlay of Rs 24,042 crores. As part of this project, the Metro lines will be extended to the Old City and will be further connected to Shamshabad Airport.

Similarly, the present corridors from Nagole to LB Nagar will be extended. The government proposes to develop Nagole, LB Nagar and Chandrayanagutta stations as interchange stations. Plans are afoot to extend the Metro facility from Miyapur to Patancheru, LB Nagar to Hayathnagar.

HYDRAA gets Rs 200 crores

The Congress government has identified Hyderabad and the area up to the Outer Ring Road as a Core Urban Region (CUR) and is finalising plans for the development of the CUR.

The population in the CUR constitutes 48.6 per cent of the State population.

The government has established an integrated unit for disaster management. Apart from the GHMC area, Ranga Reddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy districts come under the new unit.

To prevent urban disasters and mitigate disasters, the Hyderabad Disaster Relief and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) will coordinate with the State and outside the State institutes.

HYDRAA will have separate units for asset protection and disaster management. The funds required for HYDRAA will be through support from the State government and through the share of beneficiary local bodies. This institution will enable effective disaster prevention and management in the Core Urban Region.

Rs 1,500 crores for Musi Riverfront Development

The Musi Riverfront development project is one of the main priorities of the Congress Government. As part of the project, it is proposed to revive the ecosystem in 110 km of urban area around the Musi River.

“Through the Musi Riverfront Development project, we can effectively solve complex problems encountered in water management,” the deputy CM said.

Infrastructure facilities can be improved in an environment-friendly manner. As part of this project, recreation zones, people’s plazas, children’s theme parks and entertainment zones will be developed. The objectives of the project are the establishment of an economic zone, improvement of living standards, protection of heritage and culture, improving the image of the city, improvement of infrastructure etc. The development of Musi will be done on the lines of the Thames Riverfront Project in London.

Satellite townships on Hyderabad’s outskirts

There are a large number of big industries and IT companies around Hyderabad city. The employees working in these industries have to travel long distances to reach their workplace. If their homes were closer to their offices, it would provide relief to them in many aspects. It will save time and money for them and will also lessen the traffic on the roads.

The areas on the outskirts of Hyderabad have the potential to develop into self-sustainable areas. It will reduce the pressure on civic bodies. Congress aims to promote the development of satellite townships around Hyderabad. The government will encourage the construction of affordable houses at reasonable rates. We will plan and strive to provide all kinds of amenities in these townships viz: parks, community halls, commercial centres, schools etc.

Rs 1,525 crores for Regional Ring Roads of Expressway standards

Outer Ring Roads connect various places around Hyderabad which resulted in the rapid growth and development of the city.

The Congress leader said that such results need to be replicated in other parts of the State which can be achieved through the construction of the Regional Ring Road (RRR).

The northern road from Sangareddy-Toopran-Gajwel-Choutuppal is 158.6 km long and the southern side is 189 km from Choutuppal-Shadhnagar-Sangareddy are proposed to be upgraded to facilitate their declaration as National Highways.

RRR will be constructed with the standards of the expressway. The land acquisition process for this project is already in progress. It will be initially constructed as a four-lane highway and will be extended to 8 lines commensurate with an increase in traffic.

The region between ORR and RRR will attract industries, services and transport parks. As per initial estimates, the northern part of RRR will cost Rs 13,522 crores and the southern part will cost Rs 12,980 crores. In this budget, the government has proposed Rs 1,525 crores for Regional Ring Road.

Experts welcome but with a rider

Forum for Good Governance (FGG) president M Padmanabha Reddy, IFS (Retd) in his response said that they welcome the government’s priority for Hyderabad development in the State budget for 2024-25.

Giving as much as Rs 10,000 crores for a big makeover to Hyderabad has to be fully utilised because previous governments did not go beyond 60 to 70 per cent of the funds’ utilisation compared to the figure proposed in the Budget, he said.

Padmanabha Reddy felt that GHMC has to get the lion’s share of allocation to improve the basic amenities like roads, drainages and parks. Developing flyovers is okay but one has to give importance to the development of slums which are more than 1,200 in the state capital, the retired bureaucrat said.