Separate Cell At Centre For Bifurcation Issues

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

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Venkaiah Naidu said that the ongoing process of bifurcation would be deemed incomplete and all the concerns related to Andhra Pradesh's division would continue to be addressed to the Centre.

However, he did not specify when and where the proposed cell would start functioning.

Naidu informed that under the Urban Development Component, two programs had been implemented in Andhra Pradesh. They were the Urban Infrastructure and Government Program (UIG) and the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT).

Of 54 projects of the UIG, 25 had been completed, while out of 71 UIDSSMT projects, 17 had been completed.

He also informed that in January 2009, the state of Andhra Pradesh had been sanctioned 1,540 buses for the cities of Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. During 2013-14, 1,037 buses had been sanctioned for 11 cities of Andhra Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 416.37 crores, which included the Central's share of Rs 207.92 crores.

The minister informed that under the Basic Service for Urban Poor (BSUP) and the IHSDP programmes, 113 projects had been approved. This meant approval for the construction of 177,393 dwelling units in 60 cities with a project cost of Rs 4413.50 crores (with a Central share of Rs 2198.24 crores). Of these, 129,793 dwelling units had been constructed till date.

As many as 11 cities of Andhra Pradesh have been included under the Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY). Nine projects for the construction of 4,660 DUs with a project cost of Rs 258.43 crores, including a Central share of Rs 112.05 crores, had been approved till date. Under this program, the cities have to adopt the 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)