HYDERABAD: Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday strongly rebutted the TRS’ claims that the Union government has not given a single rupee for the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) to develop Karimnagar and Warangal.
Giving a detailed explanation supplemented with data, Kishan Reddy stated that of a total budgetary allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for Telangana under the SCM, Rs 392 crore has been released by the Centre till now, while the State government has released only Rs 210 crore of its share of 50 per cent matching grant, that too in 2021-22, six years after the project was launched.
Warangal was selected for the SCM in May 2016, and Karimnagar in June 2017. Kishan Reddy said though Rs 196 crore for each of the cities was released by the Centre, the State government did not release the funds immediately but diverted the money for other uses before making a long delay in transferring the central funds for the cities.
He said the release of next instalments by the Centre was contingent upon the State government releasing an equal matching share for the Smart City, and meeting the requirement of utilising at least 75 per cent of funds (Central and State governments’ matching share).
Apart from the SCM, he said the Centre has also allocated Rs 2,780 crore under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, which was launched on October 1, 2021, to be implemented for five years.
Also citing the State government’s annual Budget statement which revealed that the matching State share in 2019 and 2020 had been zero, Kishan Reddy advised the family of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to focus on the government in Telangana and the allocation made, rather than blaming the Centre for their failures.