AP CRDA totally neglected city development: Vishnu

Vijayawada: Developmental activities came to a grinding halt in the city ever since Vijayawada-Guntur-Mangalagiri-Tenali Urban Development Authority was upgraded into Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (AP CRDA) five years ago. Now, even after six months, the YSRCP government came into power, no development works worth mentioning were announced for the development of city and suburbs by the government.

According to information furnished by the erstwhile TDP government, it had spent Rs 9,500 crore for development of infrastructure facilities in the capital villages of Amaravati which is totally in Guntur district. The CRDA officials had dedicated their time and sources for the land-pooling, construction of roads, laying of cables, construction of buildings, culverts and other development works in Amaravati. Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, former Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana and other ministers and scores of officials including IAS officers inspected personally the works in capital villages. On the other hand, the city was totally neglected and not even a single project worth mentioning related to infrastructure development or tourism had been taken up in and around Vijayawada.

The traffic in the city was drastically increased since 2014, but road widening works were not taken up. Many proposals have been pending for the last many years. Storm water drain works taken up at a cost of Rs 450 crore were also not completed for three years. UGD works, underground cable works, development of parks, Krishna riverfront project near Municipal Corporation and several other works either not completed or not started at all.

The most important project, the Durga temple flyover works are continuing for more than three years. The project had to be completed before Krishna Pushkaralu.

AP CRDA co-ordination committee convener and CPM Secretariat committee member Chigurpati Babu Rao alleged that the previous TDP government had totally neglected the development of city. Vijayawada is the capital for five years, but there is no auditorium worth mentioning to host the government programmes. All important government programmes are conducted at private function halls spending lakhs of rupees and many events were organised at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium crippling the sports and games activities for five years.

Now, the YSRCP government, in a bid to repeal the CRDA, passed a bill in the Legislative Assembly in this regard. If the bill is cleared in Legislative Council, the CRDA may be scrapped. The government is forming the Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Area (AMRDA) for the development of capital Amaravati and Bill was passed in the Assembly and yet to be cleared in Legislative Council. The jurisdiction and modalities of the AMRDA are yet to be framed.

Earlier, the VGTM UDA had taken an important work like construction of Inner Ring Road connecting Gollapudi and Ramavarappadu Circle passing via Ajit Singh Nagar. The VGTM UDA had strongly lobbied to take up the flyover near Milk project and it was taken up by the R and B Department. Similarly, UDA had taken initiative for development of parks, truck terminal and made a master plan for development of city, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri.

Central MLA and former chairman of VGTM UDA Malladi Vishnu said the city was totally neglected during the TDP rule. He recalled the VGTM Master plan was made to connect Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and Mangalagiri and develop a mega urban area with road and train connectivity and all plans were ruined by the TDP rule.