Gross mismatch between fund allocation & disbursal, alleges BRS

Hyderabad : The BRS whip KP Vivekananda on Monday accused the government of ignoring Hyderabad in the name of Fourth City and Future City. He alleged that the government was not releasing the budget in proportion to the allocations. Participating in the budget demands in the Assembly, he criticised the government for failing to release funds despite allocations made for development of Hyderabad.

Vivekananda recalled that the Congress had previously promised to allocate Rs 10,000 crore every year to Hyderabad. He said Rs 2,654 crore was allocated to the GHMC, but only Rs 1,200 crore was released. He criticised that Rs 2,500 crore was allocated to the HMDA and not a single penny was given to it.

The BRS leader said while Rs 3,385 crore was allocated to the Water Board, Rs 800 crore was given for loans. He criticised cancellation of Raidurgam-Airport Metro route by the government. He said while Rs 1,100 crore was allocated to the Metro, only Rs.300 crore was released. While Rs 1,500 crore was allotted to the Musi project, only Rs 80 crore was given.

Pointing out that the GHMC had sought a budget of Rs 7,582 crore, he said the government allocated only Rs 3,100 crore. He stated that the government’s lack of sincerity towards city development was visible in releasing only 25 per cent of the funds last year. He demanded the government immediately increase salaries of sanitation stadd to Rs 18,000, as per the election promise.

Vivekananda said the KCR government, as labour partisan, had generously increased salaries of sanitation workers from Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000. He recalled that during the 2023 election campaign, the Congress had promised these workers that they would be given Rs 18,000 as soon as the new government was formed. He demanded the government immediately increase salaries of sanitation staff to Rs 18,000.

He stated that although sweeping of roads works using machines was assigned to the Ramki company, it was not done in practice and brought to attention of the House that workers themselves were sweeping roads, but bills are being paid to Ramki.

Vivekananda said the government has responsibility to overcome drinking water problem keeping in mind the brand image of Hyderabad. How would the HMDA take up big projects, like elevated corridors, when its own revenues were dwindling, he questioned. He targeted the government for holding the Miss World Pageant.

“The government which had objected to giving Rs 50 crore for Formula E wants to host the Olympics which require lakhs of crores,” he said.