KTR lashes out at Defence Ministry, says Centre delaying projects in Hyderabad

KTR told the Assembly that the state had allocated money for road development projects, but defence land was also needed for the same.
KTR lashes out at Defence Ministry, says Centre delaying projects in Hyderabad
KTR lashes out at Defence Ministry, says Centre delaying projects in Hyderabad
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Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao on Saturday lashed out at the Centre on Saturday and said that the Union Defence Ministry was stalling projects in the Secunderabad Cantonment area. 

Responding to questions in the Legislative Assembly on the Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP), KTR said that the state had already allocated a large amount to widen roads and construct flyovers, but there was a hurdle as 100 acres of defence land was needed. 

“We offered the Defence ministry 600 acres on the city's outskirts in lieu of 100 acres within the city. But they are making an unrealistic demand of Rs 30 crore towards the loss of property tax to the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), which the state government has rejected. As a result, the road and flyover work from Paradise to Kompally and JBS to Shamirpet could not be started,” KTR told the Assembly.

He also said that he had personally travelled to New Delhi several times and taken up the issue with successive Defence ministers, from Manohar Parrikar to Nirmala Sitharaman. 

KTR added that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had also taken up the issue personally with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Except for assurances, we have got nothing in the last three years. The state government is eager to resolve the matter, but it needs the Centre's cooperation," KTR said. 

This comes after years of conflict between civilians, the Local Military Authority (LMA) and the SCB.

Earlier this week, KTR spoke out on the long-pending demand of Secunderabad citizens protesting against the proposed closure of Gough Road and said that he would take up the matter with the Ministry of Defence.

The closure of roads affects hundreds of residents living in areas like Neredmet, Sainikpuri, Safilguda and Malkajgiri, among several others.

The issue of road closure has been a long-standing one between civilians and the Army. The roads are presently closed to the public from 10 pm to 7 am.

Under the SRDP, the state plans to construct multi-layer flyovers over 20 key junctions in the city.

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