As Hyderabad steps into a new decade, the officials of various departments are all geared up to provide better service to the citizens with various projects, related to power, water supply, transport and woman and child safety, which they intend to implement across the Greater Hyderabad area in 2020
TS GENCO:
Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited (TS Genco) is gearing up to meet the ever-increasing power demand and commissioning new plants in phases. In 2020, Genco will commission two plants. The Manuguru 1,080 MW power plant (4X270 MW) will be commissioned soon. Another 800 MW power plant of NTPC is scheduled to be commissioned in October 2020. With this addition, the power utility will be able to meet the power demand of irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram.
"At present, the installed power capacity is 16,200 MW. With the addition of Manuguru and NTPC plants, the total installed capacity will reach 18,080 MW in 2020," TS Transco and Genco chairman and MD Devulapalli Prabhakar Rao told Express.
On December 31, the free power supply scheme to farmers entered into its third year.
Adding additional power capacity was essential for the State. "Thanks to heavy rains this year, we are able to use hydel power. It saved around Rs 700 crores on power purchases. The TS power utility is among the best power utilities in the country," said energy minister G Jagadish Reddy.
Hyderabad METRO
The country's second-largest metro has made quite a mark in 2019. From new routes connecting Ameerpet to Hitech City to digital-friendly payment options for the tech-savvy young crowds, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited has definitely stepped up it's services.
However, officials say 2020 holds bigger plans from the very beginning of the year. Speaking to Express, NVS Reddy, Managing Director of HMRL said, "We will be completing and commissioning the much-awaited Metro corridor II that connects Jubilee Bus Stand to MGBS station. It is an 11km long route and this should be done by in January 2020."
He further added, "We will also be improving the first and last mile connectivity by introducing more feeder services from all metro stations. And in addition to this, we will also introduce more facilities for metro commuters and make metro stations hubs of activity."
Metro stations such as Ameerpet, Punjagutta, HiTech City and Irrum Manzil have already become hangout spots, because of massive retail therapy provided in and around these stations. The metro trains in itself have started providing in-train entertainment, the commuters can access without using their own data through the longer routes.
GHMC:
2020 will witness an acceleration of Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) aimed at easing traffic congestion in the city. SRDP is taken up an outlay of about Rs 23,000 crore to comprehensively solve traffic problems duly providing grade separators, flyovers at 54 junctions, elevated corridor/skyways of 111 km, major corridor development of 66 km, and major road development of 348 km.
This year will also see the laying of a large number of slip roads/link roads in different parts of the city. Of the proposed 55 link roads, Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for 35 slip and link roads have been prepared and sent to the State government for approval.
The Rupee Term Loan from banks are in the final stage for taking up SRDP projects and approvals may be completed by the month-end and works will be completed by December 2020.
SRDP is an ambitious programme of the State government's long-term initiative to ease traffic congestion in the city.
Under SRDP project, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will speed up under progress works, which include Durgam Cheruvu cable-stayed bridge (Rs 184 crore), Road No 45 elevated corridor (Rs 150 crore), Shaikpet elevated corridor (Rs 333.55 crore), Kothaguda grader separators (Rs 263.09 crore), Balanagar grade separator (Rs 387 crore), Owaisi Hospital and Bahadurpura (Rs 132 crore), and Amberpet flyover (Rs 270 crore). Flyovers around KBR Park costing Rs 436 crore will be grounded this year.
HMWS & SB
With just a day left for entering into a new decade- 2020, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) to meet the growing drinking water demands of Greater Hyderabad has proposed to tap another 172 Million Gallon of water per Day (MGD) Phase-II of Godavari Drinking Water Scheme Project (GDWSP) from Konda Pochamma Sagar which is 23 km away from Outer Ring Road.
The additional 10 TMC, GDWSP Phase-II would be executed on the fast track basis for bridging the demand and supply and gap of Hyderabad city. Once the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project reaches outskirts of the city, 23 km away from ORR, Water Board can tap 172 MGD of water from Konda Pochamma Sagar
Comprehensive Sewerage Master Plan for Peripheral Circles of Greater Hyderabad: With State Government proposing a comprehensive sewerage master plan for peripheral circles of Hyderabad, HMWS&SB through Shah Technical Consultants Private Limited submitted a draft sewerage master plan report for the entire service area of Water Board including four IT hubs barring core city area. The agency also suggested construction of 65 STPs to address the sewage issue.
Disaster Response:
The Director-General of Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department, Sanjay Kumar Jain said that the department will strictly enforce the National Building Code (NBC) to avoid any fire accidents in 2020. The fire safety precautions and fire extinguish methods are codified in the National Building Code.
Speaking to Express, Sanjay Kumar Jain said, "In the recent times, it was noticed that new constructions are not complying with the fire safety rules. We would make sure that they will abide by the rules prescribed in Part 4 of the National Building Code."
The NBC codifies several aspects such as calorific values of common materials and typical values of fire load density, the classification of industrial and non-industrial occupancies into different degree of hazard, the fire protection requirements for venting in industrial buildings, and the guidelines for fire drills and evacuation procedures for high rise buildings (above 15 meters in height). The local municipal bodies will look after the fire safety arrangements in below 15-meters structures.
Women and Children safety:
Women & Children Safety continues to the top priority for Cyberabad police, followed by road safety, improving Police Public Interface and a special focus on preventing Cybercrimes and Economic Offences and creating awareness among citizens on them.
plans for imparting self-defence skills among the girls, students and women employees and improving surveillance over vulnerable areas in Cyberabad. Further, reducing road accidents through education and enforcement, Starting highway patrolling, Improving travel time, imparting organized traffic and road safety education to students. To improve Police Public Interface, the effectiveness of Dial-100 would be first strengthened, improving Police response to different circumstances and implementing Uniform processes at all Police Stations in Cyberabad. In Cybercrime prevention, Cyber Mithra (Digital Literacy for secured youth (DILSEY)) initiative to impart digital literacy to students and also educating the public on new types of economic and cyber offences in coordination with various agencies. Rachakonda police have women's safety as its top priority. In this aspect, a Bharosa center will be set up at Saroornagar, seven counselling centres will be set up as a part of the Safe City project. Increasing surveillance by installing CCTV cameras. Rachakonda commissionerate already has more than One lakh cameras. Further, the focus will be on illuminating dark areas with coordination of civic bodies.
With inputs from VV Balakrishna, Oishani Mojumder, S Bachan Jeet Singh, B Kartheek, Pinto Deepak