Centre looks the other way as Hyderabad suffers
Despite the step-motherly treatment by Centre, TS capital emerges as the most favoured destination thanks to KCR's initiatives
Hyderabad: In the last six years, since formation of Telangana, the State government has been consistently investing and backing mega infrastructure projects in Hyderabad, enabling the metropolis emerge as the most-favoured destination in the country.
The commitment and efforts of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to develop and sustain Hyderabad as the State’s growth engine has been in sharp contrast to the Union government’s reluctance and even in some instances, abdication from its responsibility to support the capital city of India’s youngest State.
Since achieving statehood, Rao had made repeated requests through communications, urging the Union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and lend a helping hand in the progress of Hyderabad as a truly global city.
The Chief Minister, with his foresight on development, sought Modi’s intervention to develop six metropolitan cities including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, to modernise the urban face of India.
As part of these efforts, Rao personally made a 45-minute presentation to Modi, elucidating his vision to develop urban cities in the country. Modi responded to the interaction with Rao with ‘Chitthi Bhijao’ (send letter), resulting in letters in the years 2014 and 2016 from the Chief Minister, seeking special status for Hyderabad.
However, all the efforts have proved to be in vain with Modi government choosing to be a mute spectator while State government, despite being overburdened with several projects and strained for financial resources, has continued to launch innovative welfare schemes for the urban poor in Hyderabad.
The continuing apathy on part of the Union Government has been resulting in all the major metro cities facing hardships and the citizens having to face untold miseries. Key drivers of India’s economy, these six cities have started to mirror the absence of planning and absolute lack of commitment on part of the Union Government.
The recent heavy rains brought to fore the woes with Mumbai resembling an island and Chennai in the year 2015-16 remaining under sheets of water for weeks together. Similarly, when Hyderabad was lashed by what turned out to be second highest rainfall in the city’s history recently, the unfolding scenes were that of dismay and misery. So was the case with Bengaluru which suffered in heavy rains during 2017.
On June, 7, 2014, Chief Minister, KCR, in his letter addressed to Modi, also urged the Centre to chip-in to develop Hyderabad into a slum free city.
‘In order to ensure a planned growth of Hyderabad, it is necessary to have a relook at the master plan and the vision for provision of services such as improved roads, transportation systems, metro rail, sewerage and water supply etc, as well as making it a slum free city. I request that the Urban Development Ministry may be directed to take up the preparation of a comprehensive plan for Hyderabad Urban Conglomerate as a special case and provide adequate funding and development package in a phased manner for taking up various schemes and projects for urban renewal and planned development to make it a global city,” he wrote to the Prime Minister.
In a yet another letter on February 12, 2016, Rao requested the Prime Minister to ‘formulate an initiative for the development of metropolitan cities in India, by providing among other things, Rs. 6,000 crore per annum for the next five years’.
Repeated urgings, however, have failed to evoke a sympathetic response from the Centre, which continues to leave States to fend for themselves, but never hesitates to score brownie points when it suits it’s narrative.
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