Brand Hyderabad took a beating under CM & KTR: NVSS Prabhakar

Hyderabad: State BJP vice-president NVSS Prabhakar on Thursday alleged that Hyderabad's brand image has drowned under the rule of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's and Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao.

Addressing the media here, he said the MA&UD department is headed by the CM and KTR for the past eight years after the formation of Telangana. However, four out of eight years several colonies and areas in the city faced flooding. "It exposes the gross negligence of not learning from past experiences and mistakes and rectifying them to make the city flood-proof.

Prabhakar charged that under KCR and KTR there were several encroachments in the catchment areas of the two tanks and no proper desilting work was done. The department failed to ensure construction of underground drainage and storm water drainage system, exposing the hollowness of the implementation of the Mission Kakatiya.

He found fault in allowing encroachments to come up in the catchment areas, resulting in changing the very character of the two city reservoirs, despite the State High Court on several occasions directing the administration to protect them and take necessary steps for their maintenance.

Referring to the raids of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on casino agents, seizures of ganja and incidents of rape of minor girls, Prabhakar asserted that the brand image of Hyderabad has been hit in the last eight years of TRS rule.

The former MLA lashed out at the Congress for staging dharnas giving a political twist to ED's investigation against Sonia Gandhi. "Staging of dharnas by the activists is only to prove their loyalty to a family." He said family-run parties engaged in looting and hoarding of public money are joining hands to protect their wealth and making the ED probe a political issue.