HYDERABAD: The consistent efforts of the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had seen the development of Greater Hyderabad, reaching the status of Metropolitan city. Thanks to his insistence, the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) blossomed into the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on April 16, 2007. The operation that was put into effect by merging 12 surrounding municipalities, by increasing the overall area in square kilometres from 175 to 625. It was under the reins of the same Chief Minister that Hyderabad Urban Development Authority turned into the HMDA in its present form. With a vision to make the project of Greater Hyderabad a metropolis at par with cities abroad, Rajasekhara Reddy initiated a series of strategic reforms with the objective of improving civic governance and providing infrastructure.
With the aim of ensuring that weaker sections of the society are treated as equal partners in the development of the city, YSR dreamed of turning Hyderabad into a productive, planned, clean and green city.
After a gap of more than two decades, the dreams of daily drinking water for Hyderabad got fulfilled when citizens started getting daily water from November last year. Meanwhile, the nation’s biggest flyover project, the PV Narasimha Rao Elevated Expressway is nearing completion, connecting the SD Eye Hospital to the International Airport at Shamshabad.
It is opined that the flyover could be completed largely on account of the constant pressure brought by the Chief Minister on Officials concerned. After the recent inspections by the Chief Minister, the ORR Phase-I is reportedly on the completion stage, while ORR-II works are going at a brisk pace. The laurels to his string of achievements, along with the Expressway include the Outer Ring Road project, Hussainsagar and catchment area development project, radial roads, Logistic Hubs and truck terminals.
Rajasekhara Reddy played an instrumental role in relieving long traffic snarls by completing several flyovers and RoBs during his tenure, including the RoB at Jamia Osmania and Seethafalmandi.
The pending flyover projects were completed at Punjagutta, Nalgonda X Roads, Greenlands, Chandrayangutta and Musallam Jung Bridge. At the Musi river, two technologically rubber dams had been built at Muslimjung Bridge, near the High Court and the other at Salar Jung Museum, which ensured removablity during the time of floods.
Moreover, the Charminar Pedestrianisation project which was pending for long had picked up pace only after the initiative of the Chief Minister.
Several road widening works had also been implemented at a cumulative cost in excess of 500 crore Rupees. Since last five years as many as 50 important roads have been widened, while a dozen more roads would be taken up for road widening shortly.
Furthermore, the GHMC introduced and adopted the Indira Kranthi Patham upon pressure from the Chief Minister’s office, to improve the quality of life for people living below the poverty line. As many as 38,419 Self Help Groups (SHGs) were constituted and Bank Linkages to the tune of more than Rupees 100 crores had been provided, while an additional 100 crores bank linkage for 10,000 new SHGs was planned for 2009-10.
Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, the Chief Minister saw that 50,000 houses were sanctioned for urban poor in Hyderabad district alone. Incidentally, hardly two months have passed since Y S Rajasekhara Reddy laid the foundation stones for several projects to be undertaken by GHMC and other departments.