Telangana Budget 2022-23: What's in it for Hyderabad?

Hyderabad: Telangana finance minister T. Harish Rao presented a budget of Rs 2,56,958.51 crore for the year 2022-23 in the Legislative Assembly on 7 February. The size of the budget is around Rs. 26,000 crore higher than the budget of 2021-22.

So, what does this budget have for Hyderabad? Here is a list:

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area

Nala development works will be undertaken with an outlay of Rs. 858 crore. Around the Outer Ring Road, the service roads are being expanded with an outlay of Rs. 387 crore. Also, the government is spending an amount of Rs.1,200 crore to provide drinking water to all the habitations within the ORR.

The government has taken up beautification and improvement of Gandipeta reservoir with an outlay of Rs. 36.5 crore.

An amount of Rs. 3,866 crore will be spent to treat the sewage of Hyderabad. Hyderabad is the first city in south India where energy is being produced from waste.

"Like a green garland around Hyderabad, urban forests in an area of 1,66,000 acres are being developed. The World Bank has recognised Hyderabad as an ODF plus plus city. Similarly, it is also recognised as a water plus city," said Mr. Harish Rao.

Under the SRDP programme, 18 important roads and flyovers were completed. Under the CRMP programme, a total extent of 530 kms in five routes was developed. Recently, new flyovers were constructed near Owaisi junction and also at Shaikpet. In the ensuing financial year, LB Nagar underpass, Tukaram Gate RUB, Bahadurpura flyover, and 30 other flyovers and 18 foot overbridges will be completed, the minister said.

There were a number of obstacles in connecting the last 5.5 kms in the Old City with the Metro Rail Project. As there were heritage buildings and places of worship, the work could not be taken up. By the time these issues were resolved, the Metro rail project was in severe losses due to the lockdown imposed because of COVID-19. The minister said the government is taking steps to extend the Metro in consultation with the concessionaire, the minister said.

Hospital

To expand medical facilities in Hyderabad, the government has decided to open super specialty hospitals in all four corners of the city. These institutions will be collectively known as Telangana Institutions of Medical Sciences (TIMS).

These hospitals will be established at Gachibowli, LB Nagar, Alwal, and Erragadda. Each super specialty hospital will have 1,000 beds. Also, 2,000 beds will be added at NIMS. With this, the total number of beds in NIMS will increase to 3,489.

Basti dawakhana

Mr. Rao said that earlier, there were no medical facilities in the bastis of Hyderabad and the poor people had to go to private hospitals as there were no alternatives. At present, 256 basti dawakhanas provide free medical care as well as 57 different types of tests. Free medicines are also being distributed in these dawakhanas.

The government has started the work to establish 94 basti dawakhanas in the HMDA area. Encouraged by the response, the government has decided to open another 60 basti dawakhanas across the municipal corporations and municipalities.

Metro

Around Rs Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the Metro rail connectivity to Old city(for initiating Corridor II- Green Line works from MGBS to Falaknuma; 5.5km). Around Rs 377.35 crore for Airport metro connectivity(new project and Rs 1500 for the funds to HMRL.

Power

To ensure an uninterrupted power supply to the Greater Hyderabad area, the transmission and distribution network at 400 KV and 220 KV level has been strengthened.

RRR

As Hyderabad is expanding rapidly, the government has proposed that there should be a Regional Ring Road (RRR) in addition to the Outer Ring Road. Apart from easing traffic congestion, RRR will reduce the time taken to travel from the districts to Hyderabad. The proposed Regional Ring Road will be built beyond 30 km from the ORR, over a length of 340 km.

Mr. Rao said the RRR will certainly give a fillip to the development of the state. The land acquisition works in the northern part of the Regional Ring Road have already commenced.

The minister also said that the government has started the construction of the new Secretariat building in tune with the stature of the state. This is being built over seven floors and would be spread over seven lakh square feet.

IT and industry

The TSiPASS Act which was enacted in November 2015 has made the process of clearances very easy. Under this Act, a total number of 17,921 industries have taken clearances. Out of this, 13,631 industries have commenced their activities. They have provided employment to 8.17 lakh people and have brought in an investment of Rs. 1.07 lakh crore, said Mr. Rao. Another 4,982 industries are going to commence their operations shortly, he added.

The state government recently announced Telangana's electric vehicles policy. Already, investments worth Rs. 10,000 crore have come to the state. It is expected that these investments will result in the creation of about 29,000 jobs.

The minister said that Telangana is making excellent progress in the IT sector. There are more than 1,500 small and big IT companies in Hyderabad. Major companies such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, IBM, Amazon, Oracle, and Cognizant have their offices and conduct business out of Hyderabad. Over 3.23 lakh people were employed directly in the IT sector in the state when it was formed. Due to the proactive measures taken by the TRS government, today there are 6.29 lakh employees, Mr. Rao added. The indirect employment opportunities have also increased, he said.

He added that though many sectors were adversely affected due to COVID-19, IT exports from Telangana clocked a growth of 12.98%. The total exports from the Telangana IT sector were valued at Rs. 1,45,522 crores in 2021.

In association with NASSCOM, the government has set up a Centre of excellence in Artificial Intelligence to make Hyderabad a hub for AI. The government is constantly on the lookout for cutting-edge technology, Mr. Rao said and added that to improve the services of the government, technology is being used extensively. As part of this, a pilot project is on to supply medicines to remote and agency areas through drones.