HYDERABAD: The State government has warned that the power and drinking water supply to the defence areas in Cantonment limits in Hyderabad and Secunderabad would be cut if the Local Military Authority (LMA) continues to cause inconvenience to citizens by closing the roads, obstructing free flow of stormwater by building check dams and creating hurdles in developmental works.
Replying to a question raised by Kausar Mohiuddin and other members on Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP) during the question hour in the Assembly on Saturday, MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao sent a strong message to the LMA and instructed MAUD Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar to hold talks with military authorities and take up the issues with LMA officials.
If they do not heed to the State government’s request, then initiate stringent action against them such as cutting power and drinking water supply to the defence areas in Cantonment limits, he said. Mohiuddin said that the military authorities had constructed a check dam on Balkapur Nala at Hakeempet/Langar Houz, posing a threat to Shatham Tank and resulting in submergence of low lying areas.
Rama Rao said that citizens were being subjected to untold hardships by LMA due to the closure of roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment area. In addition to these problems, check dams have been constructed, obstructing the flow of water into nalas.To ensure free flow of water from Shatham Tank near Golconda Fort downstream, some works were proposed but the Archeological Survey of India denied permissions, citing some petty reasons, he added.
Rama Rao lashed out at the Central government for not providing any funds for mitigation and relief post the Hyderabad floods in October, 2020. Targetting Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy, who is the MP from Secunderabad, he said that even though Kishan Reddy is representing part of the city, he has shown no interest in helping the people of the city by getting central funds.
“Some big leaders including Union Ministers came and visited the flooded areas back then. We expected them to bring some funds. They came, took photos, expressed grief and demanded the State government to do this and that. But even after 18 months, we haven’t received a single rupee of assistance from the Centre,” he said.
“A team of Central government officials had visited the city and inspected different areas of the city, which were affected due to floods but there was no announcement yet. But when Gujarat was lashed with floods, the Prime Minister himself went there and provided Rs 1,000 crore aid to them. This is a matter of shame,” he added.
“We have also approached the Centre to sanction funds for the SNDP project. The Centre said that funds will be provided under the Amrut scheme under which all cities above one lakh population are eligible. But Hyderabad has a population of over one crore. So if we get a mere Rs 100 crore allocation under that scheme, looking at the size of the city, it won’t be enough to even clean our tongues,” he said.