Telangana IT and Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday reiterated the state government's demand to hand over 160 acres of land belonging to the Defence Ministry, for the construction of two skyways in Hyderabad.
Taking to Twitter, KTR shared the news of 210 acres of Defence land being swapped for infrastructure projects in Bengaluru and tagged Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
"I hope the same courtesy/principle can be extended to Telangana. We’ve been consistently requesting the Centre for over 2 years for 160 acres of Defence land for two important skyways in Hyderabad city. Await your positive response madam," KTR said.
Responding to his tweet, Nirmala said, "Of course KTR garu. No hesitations. Wish our officials work the details together for finalisation. This is how we went about earlier."
Of course @KTRTRS garu. No hesitations. Wish our officials work the details together for finalisation. This is how we went about earlier with @CMOMaharashtra @Dev_Fadnavis, @CMOArunachal @PemaKhanduBJP and @CMofKarnataka @DefenceMinIndia
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) August 6, 2018
“Many thanks madam. I look forward to an expeditious resolution in the interest of people of Hyderabad,” KTR said in his response.
Responding to questions in the Legislative Assembly on the Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP) in March this year, KTR had said that the state had already allocated a large amount to widen roads and construct flyovers, but there was a hurdle as more than 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.
The latest development also comes days after Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi earlier this week, and discussed the transfer of Defence land in Secunderabad for the construction of a new Secretariat building.
KCR has been considering the land in Bison Polo Grounds, for constructing a new Secretariat, Legislature and a cultural centre on the premises. Critics have suggested that the Chief Minister is shifting the building, only to make it 'vastu-compliant'. Further, protesters claim that the move would kill a crucial lung space in Secunderabad.
Despite being faced with several protests and stiff opposition from activists and citizens, KCR remains uncompromising on his decision.