Telangana: SUDA’s wait for governing body, chairman continues in Khammam

The previous BRS government initiated SUDA in October, 2017 covering 573 square kilometres with Khammam Municipal Corporation and Wyra Municipality falling under its jurisdiction

Khammam: Even after 16 months passed by since the Congress government was formed, there has been no progress in constituting a governing body and chairman for the Stambhadri Urban Development Agency (SUDA).

It might be noted that the previous BRS government initiated SUDA in October, 2017 covering 573 square kilometres with Khammam Municipal Corporation and Wyra Municipality falling under its jurisdiction. Bachu Vijay Kumar was appointed as its chairman on June 10, 2020.

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After Congress came to power, it terminated the governing body but has not taken any steps to appoint a chairman and governing body. As a result of which, its administration has gone haywire and development works under SUDA have been hit. In addition to that lack of a governing body, revenue collection under layout regularisation scheme (LRS) for registration of unregistered plots in unauthorised layouts has also been affected.

According to official data, of the 19,070 applications, only 1,357 applicants paid a fee of Rs 3.85 crore for regularisation. If there is a governing body, it could have organised meetings to create awareness among the applicants to bring more revenue through the LRS.

Meanwhile, the competition for the SUDA chairman post intensified with the expansion of the urban development authority’ jurisdiction. The Congress government in last October issued a GO MS No: 185 expanding the SUDA limits including Madhira and Sathupalli municipalities and 279 villages, excluding the agency villages in the district.

As the government is dillydallying to take a decision in appointing the SUDA chairman, many Congress leaders who have been lobbying for the post are getting disappointed. District Congress president Puvvalla Durga Prasad, city Congress president Mohammed Javed, the party leader Matta Dayanand and others are hoping to get the post.

There are rumours that Durga Prasad’s name has been finalised for the post, but there is no clarity as the three Ministers in the district Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Tummala Nageswara Rao are yet to arrive at a decision regarding the matter.