All Telangana MPs must speak up for their State in Parliament: KTR

Hyderabad: Ahead of the budget session of the Parliament, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao urged the Centre to support the growth of Hyderabad by extending necessary financial and administrative support. He wanted all the Telangana MPs, notwithstanding their party affiliations, to speak up on behalf of people of Telangana in the […]

Hyderabad: Ahead of the budget session of the Parliament, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao urged the Centre to support the growth of Hyderabad by extending necessary financial and administrative support. He wanted all the Telangana MPs, notwithstanding their party affiliations, to speak up on behalf of people of Telangana in the Parliament and fight for its development.

Speaking to mediapersons after inaugurating several development works in Quthbullapur Assembly constituency here on Tuesday, Rama Rao urged union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to consider the requests made by the State government and sanction Rs 7,800 crore for Hyderabad’s development in the upcoming union Budget 2022-23. “Stronger the States, stronger the country. The union government must remember that growth of Hyderabad and Telangana, would only benefit the country as Telangana is fourth largest contributor to the nation’s economy,” he said.

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He asserted that unless the Centre responds positively to the State’s just demands, the TRS will expose the Central government’s discrimination towards Telangana before the people of the State, besides putting up a relentless fight in the Parliament.

The Minister reminded that during the heavy rains and subsequent flooding in Hyderabad last year, the Centre did not respond to the State government’s requests for financial support. However, when there were floods in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately took an aerial survey and announced Rs 1,000 crore. “None of the union Ministers including the one representing the State, responded to our requests. The BJP MPs from the State too remained silent. Let us see if they will speak at least during the upcoming budget session and play their role in Hyderabad’s growth,” he said.

Rama Rao also slammed the Centre for dilly-dallying with the decision over handing over around 100 acres of defence lands in Secunderabad cantonment area towards public infrastructure development. Despite repeated requests for nearly 20 times to four Defence Ministers including Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Rajnath Singh over nearly six years as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been no response from the Centre.

“We have earmarked Rs 5,000 crore for construction of two skyways from Paradise to Kandlakoya and Jubilee Bus Station to Shamirpet. We are ready to compensate for the 100 acres of defence land, but the Centre did not respond for reasons better known to them,” he said. He assured to take up construction of flyover at Suchitra junction following requests from the locals.