Festivals become project deadlines as dust rises on electoral horizon in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Chief Minister

K Chandrasekhar Rao

led-TRS government has fixed festivals and the Telangana State Formation Day as the deadlines for the completion of various projects.

While officials have been given the target of completing the construction of 60,000 double bedroom houses before June 2, coinciding with the Telangana State Formation Day, another target is to complete construction of camp officecum-residential buildings for MLAs in 20 Assembly constituencies before Ugadi mid-March. Another 24 MLA camp office buildings are to be completed before June 2 and 16 buildings on or before Dasara in mid-October.

Of the total 26 new integrated collectorate complexes, construction is going on for 23. However, land has not even been acquired for collectorate buildings in the districts of Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Suryapet. The KCRgovernment wants collectorate complexes to be finished by Dasara, except the three which are likely to be delayed.

Officials said there is no specific reason for fixing festivals as the deadline to complete some of the prestigious projects. “It is only a matter of convenience. Festivals and the date on which they are to be celebrated are easily remembered that is why the targets have been fixed, they said.

However, the TRS government is serious about completion of 60,000 2BHK units before Telangana State Formation Day on June 2. Housing special chief secretary Chitra Ramachandran has issued an ultimatum to contractors and officials to ensure that 60,000 units are ready for gruha pravesam by June 2.

In fact, the current calendar year is being considered as the election year with indications pointing towards an early poll either in November or December. In such a case, the TRS government wants all its projects completed well before November-December 2018.

It may be mentioned that KCR had announced that he would not seek votes if TRS government is unable to supply drinking water to every household through Rs 45,000-crore Mission Bhagiratha project. Now, the officials have fixed June 2 as the target to complete maximum works and the rest must be done by Dasara.