Telangana Budget promises to develop Hyderabad as world class metropolis

Hyderabad: Development of facilities and enhancing safety and security in Hyderabad is one of the prominent areas in the TRS Government's maiden budget (2015-16) for Telangana presented in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. The Budget proposed about Rs 2,000 crore for the civic bodies and also the Hyderabad Metro Rail. The fund proposed for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), HMR (Hyderabad Metro Rail) and HMWS&SB (Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board) is Rs 526 crore, Rs 416 crore and Rs 1,000 crore, respectively in BE (Budget Estimate) 2015-16.

"The government is providing assistance to GHMC, HMR and HMWSSB in order to make the city of Hyderabad a world class metropolis," the Budget presented by Finance Minister E Rajender said.

Liberal assistance is being given to HMWSSB in order to complete Krishna Phase-III and Godavari Phase-I, bringing an additional 260 million gallons of water per day (MGPD) by the end of the year. Apart from completely cleansing the picturesque Hussain Sagar lake, the government is planning strategic road and skyline development in Hyderabad city with an amount of Rs 1600 crore.

The Hyderabad Metro is scheduled for completion by July 2017 as per the schedule. In order to ensure public safety and security in Hyderabad, the government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 271 crore for the purchase of 4,433 vehicles for Hyderabad and Cyberabad (the IT cluster in the city) Police. The number of new vehicles provided to the remaining nine districts in the state is 550. The Budget said 1,500 motorcycles have been provided to Cyberabad Police to respond within 10 minutes of receiving a complaint or call.

The government has taken up a CCTV project under which one lakh cameras are planned to be installed in 2015-16 in Hyderabad city. The Hyderabad Police has already introduced a system of e-challans for the payment of 39 types of fines for traffic violations. This has received overwhelming support from the vehicle owners. Reception centres cum help desks supported by online monitoring system have been set up in all the police stations in Hyderabad and Cyberabad.

"These measures have already resulted in improving the operational efficiency of police department at the cutting edge level, while transforming it into citizen friendly organisation through mobility and technology," the Budget said.