KTR asks officials to speed up road-widening in Old City

Hyderabad: Stating that widening of roads in the densely populated Old City was a challenge, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao has asked officials to speed up work in localities where road-widening is essential.

At a high-level review meeting on development of the Old City here on Tuesday, he listed the works underway and progress achieved in providing drinking water, power supply, mobility infrastructure, sanitation, conservation of heritage structures. KTR said, as part of the Strategic Road Development Programme, the works to strengthen the road network in the Old City area were going on at a brisk pace. Construction of several flyovers and laying of roads have been completed.

The works related to traffic junctions, construction of foot over bridges and bridges over the Musi were also going on at a brisk pace, he said. More than Rs. 1,200 crore was spent on provision of drinking water; over 2.5 lakh connections were given in the Old City under the free water supply scheme. The power supply system has been improved tremendously in the Old City along with other parts.

KTR stated that special attention was paid to maintain sanitation in tourist places, including Charminar, Chowmahalla Palace, Mecca Masjid and Salarjung Museum. Along with various health schemes provided by the government, 84 Basthi Dawakhanas were set up in the area. Plans were ready for restoration of Mir Alam Mandi and proposals for a six-line cable bridge over Mir Alam Tank were in the DPR stage.

Expressing satisfaction over priority given to development of the Old City, Akbaruddin Owaisi, AIMIM floor leader, thanked the government. He brought to KTR's notice a few programmes needed in the Old City.

Owaisi said the party was ready to extend all forms of support and cooperation to implement the government's development programmes at a rapid pace; it will work with the departments.

Home Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali, Akbaruddin Owaisi, MP Dr G Ranjith Reddy, Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, Special Chief Secretary of MA&UD Department Arvind Kumar, and officials of GHMC, HMDA, HMWSSB, TSSPDCL and other departments attended the meeting.