BJP just raises slogans of Saab ka Saath ka Vikas but BRS government delivers. Telangana is a trendsetter, torchbearer and a trailblazer. What Telangana does today, rest of India does it tomorrow, Rama Rao said
Published Date – 04:45 PM, Sat – 16 September 23
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Hyderabad: Stressing that investment in the infrastructure sector was key for a State or nation’s development, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao said Telangana had focused on infra development and it paid rich dividends.
Hyderabad contributes about 45 to 50 percent of Telangana’s GSDP. If India needs to become a five trillion economy, a lot of investment has to be made in infrastructure development in urban areas as this would lead to creating wealth. Unfortunately, not many governments understand this basic aspect, the Minister said while addressing CREDAI Maharashtra members here on Saturday.
Telangana raised loans and invested in the productive sector. The world’s largest lift irrigation project – Kaleshwaram was constructed in the State in just four years. It was constructed by spending Rs. 1 lakh crore and without any contribution from the Modi government. A bilateral agreement was signed with the Maharashtra government and it helped in supplying water to 45 lakh acres, he said.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was inaugurating on Saturday the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation project, which was equipped with much more powerful pumphouses than Kaleshwaram. It was constructed on River Krishna and provides water to nearly 12.5 lakh acres, he said.
“Telangana was ranked 24 in paddy production and today it is the number one State in paddy production in India,” Rama Rao said, adding that this was achieved by ensuring sufficient water supply and schemes like the Rythu Bandhu for farmers. In 12 installments, the State government had so far distributed Rs.73,000 crore to 70 lakh farmers without any corruption, he said.
The State was also planning for the future infrastructure. The Cabinet had approved Metro service all along the ORR. At present, Hyderabad Metro service was covering 70 km and plans were laid to increase this to 415 km, he said, adding that this would help in better transit oriented development in the future.
Hyderabad had beaten Bengaluru in office space absorption continuously in four quarters. The State government had also planned for energy and water security for the next 30 years, the Minister said.
The State government permits unlimited Floor Space Index (FSI). It was important to grow vertical, considering the growing population. After Mumbai, Hyderabad was home for the most number of skyscrapers in the country, he said.
In the last eight years, 24,000 permissions were approved under TS-iPASS and investments to the tune of $50 billion came, besides generating employment for 24 lakh persons, he said.
Following the success of TS-iPASS, Telangana introduced TS-bPASS. Building plan permissions were now issued within 21 days. But for Telangana, no other State implements such a building plan approval system.
“Take a copy of TS-bPASS to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and insist on implementation of the system. If he does not, then we will come and implement it in Maharashtra,” Rama Rao said amidst cheers from the audience.
He said that a Congress Working Committee meeting was happening in Hyderabad and a few Ministers from Karnataka had also come here to defeat the BRS government. “No issues, but the Congress Ministers are also learning different aspects, especially waste to energy and building plan approval systems. Likewise, a team had also come from Uttar Pradesh to study the TS-bPASS concept,” he said.
Following Telangana’s success in the Comprehensive Road Development Programme, it was being implemented in Mumbai. Telangana was also taking up the country’s largest slum development programme and Asia’s largest dignity housing colony was constructed at Kollur, he said appealing to the CREDAI Maharashtra members to visit the colony.
“BJP just raises slogans of Saab ka Saath ka Vikas but BRS government delivers. Telangana is a trendsetter, torchbearer and a trailblazer. What Telangana does today, rest of India does it tomorrow,” Rama Rao said.
Before the formation of Telangana, there were a lot of doubts among people over the State’s future. The first challenge to address soon after the formation of the State was power supply. Power holidays for two days in a week and farmers got power supply for about six to seven hours in a day. The State’s power demand was 10,000 MW and the installed capacity was just about 7778 MW. Today, it increased to 24,000 MW, he said.
In the last two years, Hyderabad created more technology jobs in India than Bengaluru. Last year, it was 33 percent of total technology jobs in the country and this year it was 44 percent. This shows our growth story, the Minister said, addin that IT exports, which in 2014 were Rs.57,000 crore, had increased to Rs.2.41 lakh crore, registering a 400 percent growth.
