Centre to set up separate cell to address bifurcation issues: Venkaiah

Hyderabad, May 31 : Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday announced that a separate cell would be constituted to address the grievances pertaining to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference here, Venkaiah Naidu said that the ongoing process of bifurcation would be deemed incomplete and all the concerns related to AP’s division would continue to be addressed the Centre. However, he did not specify as to when and where the proposed cell would start functioning.

Venkaiah Naidu informed that under the Urban Development Component, two programs have been implemented in Andhra Pradesh. They are Urban Infrastructure and Government (UIG) and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT). Of UIG 54 projects, 25 have been completed while 17 out of 71 UIDSSMT projects have been completed. He informed that in January 2009, the Andhra Pradesh was sanctioned 1540 buses for the cities of Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. During 2103-14, 1037 buses have been sanctioned for 11 cities of Andhra Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 416.37 crore, which includes Central share of Rs 207.92 crore.

The minister informed that under Basic Service for Urban Poor (BSUP) and IHSDP programmes 113 projects have been approved for construction of 177,393 dwelling units in 60 cities with Project cost of Rs 4413.50 crore (Central share of Rs 2198.24 crore). In these 113 projects, 129,793 dwelling units have been completed till date.

As many as 11 cities of Andhra Pradesh have been included under Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY). Nine projects for construction of 4,660 DUs with project cost of Rs 258.43 crore, including Central share of Rs 112.05 crore, have been approved till date. Under this program the cities have to make Slum Free Plan of Action to become eligible for projects.

Venkaiah Naidu said that focus would be laid on strengthening connectivity between the cities through road, metro and mono rails. He also hoped that the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project would be completed by July 2017. INN