Congress Blames KCR For Illegal Constructions

Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir today blamed the "inefficiency" and "inexperience" of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the storm water drain encroachments in the city, and for the "havoc" caused due to the heavy rains in the State.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party office on Monday, Shabbir Ali ridiculed the Chief Minister's contention that the heavy rains did not cause much as much damage as projected by the media.

Challenging KCR to tour the affected areas, he alleged that the Chief Minister was trying to downplay the tragedy to avoid facing further criticism.

He gave mixed reactions to the the State government's decision to demolish the illegal structures constructed on the storm water drains in the city, asking what took the Chief Minister so long when the demolition drive was promised long before the rains started.

"What prevented him from razing those illegal structures earlier? There are thousands of these houses built along sewers and catchment areas, which the State government had regularised under the GOs 58 and 59 in the past. Will it demolish those constructions, too? Why did KCR not speak about the 28,000 illegal houses before? And what happened to his 100-day monsoon action plan? It would seem like the government's typical response time is a few days post-tragedy," he asked.

Shabbir Ali also slammed KCR for targeting the previous Congress-led government for the illegal encroachments in the city.

"The previous Congress government never allowed illegal constructions in the first place. The city never faced problems of water-logging or stagnation during the Congress or the TDP regimes. The government back then took up the de-siltation and strengthening of storm water drains each year before the monsoons. It developed Hyderabad rapidly by spending Rs. 1 lakh crores. But the city's infrastructure started to degrade as soon as KCR came to power 27 months ago," he claimed.

Shabbir Ali also said that KCR should learn to handle criticism. "Is it a 'sin' to ask the CM to return to the Capital and monitor the situation? Why did he not hold a meeting with the disaster management department authorities despite IMD's warnings? His negligent attitude is causing huge damage to the entire State," he said.

The Congress leader demanded that the government declare a health emergency due to the rise in waterborne diseases seen in the city of late, and issue an advisory to people. He asked the State government to not downplay a potential epidemic.