HYDERABAD: Two important landmarks of Old City, the Central prison at Chanchalguda and the Race Course at Malakpet, will soon be things of the past if Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s plans materialise. The city will be developed on the lines of Istanbul, he announced Wednesday.
“We do not want a place for punters in the heart of the city. Let them go out of the city,” KCR said in his characteristic style at a meeting here organised to welcome TDP MLAs T Krishna Reddy and T Srinivas Yadav and MLC Gangadhar Goud into the TRS.
The Chanchalguda jail and the Malakpet Race Club will be turned into educational institutions for the poor, he said.
“We are taking a tough stance on some issues. We have closed down gambling dens,” he pointed out and asked the gathering whether it was wrong. With the people responding with a resounding No, he quipped, “Such measures are not to the liking of some Andhra leaders.”
Reiterating his promise of transforming Hyderabad into a slum-free, world class city, KCR said plans are ready for its comprehensive development.
“I am determined to change the face of Hyderabad. The development during previous regimes was haphazard,” he said and in an oblique reference to TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, he observed, “They claim to have developed the Hitec City. I don’t know what is hitec and what is low tech but whenever it rains, the city turns into a puddle. I want to change it.”
Recalling that he had visited Bhoiguda after Srinivas Yadav brought the plight of the people in the slums there, the Chief Minister said, “I ordered reconstruction of the houses immediately...with the entire cost being borne by the government. As many as 561 houses are being constructed with each having two bedrooms, kitchen, hall and a bathroom to let the poor live with self-respect.”
He termed it a model for the proposed houses for the poor in the State. KCR also assured the people that drinking water tap connections to every household would be provided in four years.
“If I fail in keeping this promise, I will never seek your votes,” he said. He further said cities in the State with low-lying areas will be developed ala Istanbul in Turkey.
He also promised Hollywood-type film studios in the city.
Taking a dig at Chandrababu Naidu, he said he will not lie as Naidu does. “If there is a Nobel Prize for liars, Chandrababu Naidu will get it,” he joked. He said he had kept the promises made to farmers, while Naidu had not. In the same breath, he remarked that it was a waste of time to talk about Chandrababu Naidu.
Squarely blaming the AP CM for the power woes of Telangana, KCR said he had told the people even before he become CM that Telangana had inherited power problems which cannot be solved overnight. “I had said every effort will be made to make Telangana power surplus after three years”, he said.