KTR seeks BJP help for skyways nod

​Hyderabad: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao on Saturday urged the BJP leaders in the State to use their influence to convince the Defence Ministry for taking two skyways from the Defence lands in Cantonment area.

The minister was replying to a question on the status of Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP) works, raised by the TRS member A Gandhi and others. The minister said that the government gave administrative sanction to 58 works in five phases with Rs 26,459.81 crore funds and added that 18 works were going on at brisk pace. The minister said that as part of SRDP, the government proposed to have skyways between Paradise and Kompally road and from JBS to Shameerpet road. 

“The government assured to provide 600 acres of alternative land in lieu of 100 acres of the Defence lands to be acquired, but the Defence ministry is causing some problems. The authorities are unreasonable to seek Rs 30 crore, which they get as property tax from Cantonment, perennially. The government is ready to start the works as Rs 2,500 crore is ready with HMDA for these works. Keeping in mind the difficulties of the residents of Cantonment area the BJP leaders should take up the issue with the Defence minister, he said.

The minister said that the government would soon have a meeting with the R&B and also Railways to sort out small issues with the Railway with regard to RUBs and ROBs in the way of the proposed roads.

Replying to the supplementary questions, the minister said that Miyapur-Ellammabanda road works were going on with Rs 15 crore, Raghavendra Nagar HT line with Rs 6 crore, land acquisition was completed with regard to the Usha Mullapudi road and works would start soon, there were some issues with the Pragatinagar road and hence alternative road was being planned, he added.

The minister said as per the GHMC survey of taking feedback of commuters passing through Ayyappa society underpass taken up under SRDP which is opened to traffic from March 1, 2018, all the commuters expressed their satisfaction and stated that their travelling time had reduced by 30 to 45 minutes.

Regarding the poor quality of works at Ayyappa society, the minister said that show cause notice was served on the contractors. He said that the government had released calendar for the SRDP works.