VIJAYAWADA: Union minister for urban development M Venkaiah Naidu has said that the Centre will extend all help to the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) to come out of its crisis. He, however, asked the civic body to find ways and means to improve its revenues to become self-reliant.
Naidu, who was felicitated by the VMC at Tummalapalli Kala Kshetram here Saturday, said, “I have just now spoken to the Krishna district collector, the VMC commissioner, the mayor, the deputy mayor and other officials and asked them to come to Delhi one day with all details about the projects so that they can have a discussion with the officials concerned. I shall also take part in the discussion,” he added.
He stressed that there is a need to improve the revenue by conducting a comprehensive survey of buildings as it would help to get more revenues through the property tax and added that without collecting the taxes the municipalities could not provide the facilities. He also made it clear that the Centre could not offer the financial support if every municipality in the country urged it to release grants as the Centre too had financial restrictions.
The Union minister assured the development of urban transport, infrastructure, solar lighting, Gannavaram airport development and construction of a flyover near Durga Temple in Vijayawada city.
He said that the government had already sanctioned `10 crore for construction of the urban metro rail project connecting Vijayawada, Guntur and Tenali and asked the officials to submit a detailed report on the project.
He pointed out that there was a need for a master plan and the public-private-partnership for the development of the city.
Health minister Kamineni Srinivas said that the government was working hard for development of the city. Mayor Koneru Sridhar expressed his happiness over the promises made by Venkaiah Naidu.
BC welfare minister Kollu Ravindra, deputy speaker Mandali Budda Prasad, municipal administration minister P Narayana, MP Konakalla Narayana Rao, deputy mayor Gogula Venkata Ramana Rao, Vijayawada-East MLA Gadde Ramamohan Rao, Narsapuram MP Gokaraju Ganga Raju, Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas, Vijayawada-Central MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, VMC commissioner C Hari Kiran and others participated.