Bhatti warns against ORR being in private hands

Hyderabad: Taking exception to selling rights to collect taxes on the outer ring road (ORR) to a private agency for the next 30 years, Congress Legislature party leader Bhatti Vikramarka wanted to know how future governments run. He asked municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao to respond to the concerns being expressed by everyone on this sell-out.

Stating that the ORR was envisioned by the Congress party to be a state pearl, he said, “The road has led to the development of Hyderabad. We will approach the court against giving it to private agencies and also write to the President.”

He charged the state government for paying scant regard to the 2013 Land Acquisition Act brought by the UPA government and evicting people without appropriate rehabilitation.

Vikramarka said that people of the state are waiting to teach a befitting lesson to the K. Chandrashekar Rao government. He attributed the government intransigence in not heeding to the demands of auto-rickshaw drivers for 45 days, who are not allowed to ply their vehicles on the Yadadri hill.

Addressing the media after offering prayers at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, he asked, “What was the government doing for the past 15 days even after farmers had brought paddy to the purchase centres? We had set up IKP centres nearer to the fields during the Congress government. Why are such arrangements not being made now?”

Taking exception to the denial of entry to the PCC president A. Revanth Reddy, a Lok Sabha member, into the Secretariat, he wondered if it was only meant for BRS representatives. He said the new Secretariat and Pragati Bhavan have been constructed to satisfy Rao’s vanity.

The meet was attended by in-charge of Alair assembly constituency Beerla Ilaiah, and other seniors like Dr Nagesh, Bandaru Sobharani, Rajaiah and Pradeep Kumar Goud.