KTR daydreaming about cantonment-GHMC merger, says SCB

Hyderabad: Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) members, led by vice-president J. Ramakrishna, accused the Telangana government of failing to implement centrally-sponsored schemes in the cantonment despite repeated reminders from the Union government, and demanded that residents' demands be met immediately.

He said minister K.T. Rama Rao was daydreaming about merging the GHMC and the SCB, but that would not be possible because the corporation was beset with programmes and was being ignored by the government.

He accused the TRS government of neglecting infrastructure development works in the cantonment and ignoring the residents during the Covid-19.

Further, despite the requirement of 80-90 lakh gallons of drinking water per day, the state government had excluded the SCB from its 20-kilolitre free drinking water scheme. The claim that the government had issued orders extending the scheme for free drinking water supply to the cantonment was a complete lie.

According to Ramakrishna, the government did not even include the cantonment in sewerage master plans, despite the fact that main sewer lines pass through SCB, as well as not including it in projects carried out under the Strategic Nala Development Plan (SNDP) and Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP).

"In fact, the Telangana government misappropriated statutory funds, such as transfer of property tax (TPT) or a surcharge on stamp duty that was routed through them. Instead of immediately releasing the funds, the Telangana government is misusing them, and they have accumulated up to Rs 35 crore after March 2021. It is recommended that such funds be remitted directly to the SCB treasury, as they were prior to the formation of the Telangana state," he pointed out.

Claiming that the merger of the cantonment area with the GHMC was not a solution and that residents want development, he stated that the state government has failed to hold council meetings, denying development funds to corporators, GHMC properties ere mortgaged, it was not paying monthly salaries on time apart from clearing bills to contractors, and it has failed to make progress on several infrastructure projects.

"At this point, KTR is daydreaming and causing confusion among the people and on social media in order to divert attention away from the BJP cantonment constituency, which is fighting for their rights and putting pressure on the state government, and will continue to do so. SCB administration is far superior to the GHMC administration. Merger may not be preferred over development,” he asserted.