CM pitches for defence land, funds

Hyderabad/ New Delhi: The issue pertaining to transfer of Defence land and release of funds for development of backward regions of the state were some of the important issues that figured during the series of meetings Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had with central ministers on Friday in New Delhi.

Revanth during his meeting with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh sought 0.21 hectares of the Defence land for the construction of a skywalk at Rythu Bazar in Mehdipatnam to avoid traffic congestion. The CM brought to the notice of the Defence Minister that skyway construction was almost ready and only the Mehdipatnam stretch was pending due to delay in transfer of the defence land.

Rajnath Singh expressed his willingness to expedite the process. The CM also appealed to the Defence Minister to transfer 83 acres of defence lands as the government had prepared proposals to construct a six-lane elevated corridor from Paradise junction to the Outer Ring Road junction on Rajiv Rahadari connecting Karimnagar-Ramagundam from Hyderabad and construction of 11.3 km corridor with entry and exit ramps.

He urged the Defence Minister to transfer 56 acres of land so that construction of 18.3 kilometres of elevated corridor from Paradise junction to Kandlakoya near Outer Ring Road on Nagpur Highway (NH-44) can be taken up.

Revanth further explained to Rajnath Singh that out of this 18.3 km, 12.68 kilometres will have a six-lane elevated corridor with exit and entries in four areas and a double-decker bridge for Metro rail corridor.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy also called on the UPSC Chairman Manoj Soniki and requested the latter to help the state in the conducting of competitive exams in a fair and transparent manner as the government had promised to fill 2 lakh jobs by December 2024.

Revanth, accompanied by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said that the government wants to adopt new procedures and methods in the recruitment process through TSPSC.

The chief minister brought to the notice of the UPSC Chairman that the state government was planning to usher in reforms in the functioning of the TSPSC. He said that staff will be appointed on a permanent basis and will not give scope for any irregularities. The UPSC Chairman assured to provide training to the Chairman of the TSPSC and the staff.

During the meeting Revanth Reddy had with the Union Finance Minister urged her to release the pending Rs1,800 crore to Telangana from 2019-20, 2021-22 to 2023-24 at the rate of Rs 450 crore every year under the Backward Areas Development Programme. He also requested her to release Rs 2,233.54 crore which were due from the 15th Finance Commission to the state and allocate funds separately for the development of Hyderabad city.