VIJAYAWADA: CPI(M) State Committee member Ch. Babu Rao and city secretary R. Raghu said that Vijayawada remained the most neglected city in the State under the regime of various Congress governments in the past seven years and the situation was no different after Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy took over reins of governance.
They made a fervent plea to the Chief Minister to first release funds of nearly Rs. 200 crore as grant immediately for the city's development instead of holding out empty promises such as conduct of a review meeting with officials in his Tuesday visit. “Successive Chief Ministers visited a number of times and made lots of promises but nothing happened. The people do not want VIP visits, they want development with and amenities,” they added.
Mr. Babu Rao and Mr. Raghu addressed a press conference on Monday when they asserted that the conditions in city deteriorated over the years because of faulty implementation of various programmes like the JNNURM, Bus Rapid Transit System and so on.
‘Funds not released'
The promised funds were not forthcoming under JNNURM but there was increasing burden being put on the people in the form of taxes for garbage lifting and drainage and also raising property tax.
Stating that the JNNURM was a Rs. 1,460 crore project, Mr. Babu Rao said that only Rs. 500 crore was released so far under this and the officials of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation claimed that Rs. 700 crore had been spent already under this programme. The State Government was neither giving funds towards its share nor passing on the funds released by the Centre to the municipal corporation for proper utilisation.
The CPI(M) leaders demanded a white paper from the government on the steps taken by it for the development of the city.
They deplored that different agencies gave out several plans about the Outer Ring Road which ultimately helped people in high positions to serve their real estate interests only. There was talk of Greater Vijayawada but nothing concrete or clear emerged out from the Government so far.
Mr. Babu Rao said that successive Chief Ministers spoke a lot about the super speciality hospital in city and there had been no land allotted for the same till now. While this was the case, there were efforts to sell the existing land of old hospital for Rs. 70 crore, which was a matter of shame for one and all in city, the added.
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