HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), a wing of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), is yet to receive `87 lakh from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti towards toll tax on Outer Ring Road (ORR).Last week, a group of ministers who were monitoring the arrangements for ‘Pragathi Nivedana Sabha’ at Kongara Kalan in Ibrahimpatnam mandal in Rangareddy district held on Sunday, announced that the party would pay the toll tax for all the vehicles passing through ORR from Sunday morning to midnight and asked the HMDA authorities to pass on instructions to the toll collecting agency to let off all the vehicles without collecting the toll.
On an average 90,000 to one lakh vehicles ply on the ORR everyday and the private agency that manages toll plazas pays as much as `87 lakh a day as toll to HMDA. The said amount has to be borne by the ruling party as per the assurance given by the ministers.Besides, the police removed ‘speed breakers’ at some toll administrative buildings to allow vehicles to move faster without any hindrance or traffic jam. The estimated cost of those speed breakers ranges between `10 lakh and `15 lakh.
“So far we have not received any toll tax reimbursement from the TRS though the meeting concluded on Sunday evening. We had initially expected that the TRS would pay the amount in advance but it did not pay even a day after the meeting ended, HGCL officials told The New Indian Express.
HMDA/HGCL would write a letter to the ruling party on Tuesday, asking it to reimburse the toll and also pay for the speed breakers which were removed by the police to ensure speedy movement of vehicles.
However, some senior officials are not sure if the ruling party would make the payment to HGCL.
“We cannot force them to pay but can only request them to clear the dues. Even if the payment is partial, HGCL would welcome it,’’ they said.
DA hike for govt employees
Hyderabad: Around four lakh State government employees and pensioners will get one instalment of 1.57 per cent dearness allowance (DA) from January 1. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday signed a file increasing the DA points by 1.572 per cent to government employees. With this, the cumulative total of the DA would become 27.248 per cent with effect from January 1, 2018