CM Revanth Reddy cracks whip on sanitation, ad revenue; orders early morning field visits

Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday warned civic officials that he would conduct surprise inspections across the three municipal corporation areas within the Outer Ring Road and take strict action if garbage was found, signalling a renewed push on urban sanitation and accountability.At a review meeting of the municipal administration and urban development department at the secretariat, he directed the commissioners of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Cyberabad Municipal Corporation and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation to conduct field visits at 6 am to assess ground situation. "Give top priority to sanitation and cleanliness. I will come for a direct inspection and will not tolerate if garbage is found," he told officials.
Raising concerns over poor revenue from outdoor advertising despite the city being dotted with hoardings of various sizes and formats, the chief minister questioned officials on the shortfall in expected income. He asked them to study advertisement revenue models in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru and suggested measures to improve collections. He also directed strict action against advertisers responsible for revenue losses. Multi-level parkingRevanth further asked officials to examine the feasibility of developing multi-level parking facilities on private lands in congested areas and to explore the possibility of similar infrastructure along Necklace Road to ease traffic pressure. Officials were instructed to move ahead with the installation of smart poles at major intersections and other locations. These poles, he said, should accommodate electric and communication cables, CCTV cameras and advertisement boards, with 10% of the space reserved for govt and welfare programme publicity.During the meeting, officials presented a powerpoint on revenue generation through public-private partnership and other mechanisms, which the chief minister reviewed and offered suggestions on strengthening income streams for urban bodies. Unicode streetlightingHe also directed the adoption of the unicode system for managing streetlighting across all cities and towns in the state, including the three corporations within the ORR limits. In addition, officials were asked to compile comprehensive data on parks under their jurisdiction and prioritise their development and maintenance. Separately, Revanth instructed officials to organise a one-day orientation programme at the earliest for newly-elected mayors, deputy mayors, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of urban local bodies. "Steps should be taken for the development of cities and towns and other issues should be explained. I will attend the meeting and speak to the newly-elected mayors and chairpersons," he said.