Will oppose road development at the cost of green cover: BJP

Hyderabad: Bharatiya Janata Party said on Friday it would oppose any road development activity at the cost of green cover and heritage of the city. The party said it supports the campaign taken up by The Times of India for saving city's green cover and KBR park. The party demanded that a public hearing should be conducted before the government moves ahead with the project.
Addressing a press conference, BJP MLC S Ramachander Rao and spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao said the party was ready to join the people's movement over chopping of trees indiscriminately in the name of development activity.
"There has been a decline in the green cover and lung space in the city for the past few years. The government plans are either targeting green space or heritage buildings in the past two years," Krishna Sagar Rao said. He said party legislator from Khairatabad Chintala Ramachandra Reddy would also make a statement on the KBR national park issue.
"BJP is not against development of the city. But the TRS government, without any proper scientific approach, environmental impact assessment and traffic studies, has taken up this project. The government should release entire plans of the project to the public before starting work," Ramachander Rao said.
The leaders said Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP), being taken up by the GHMC to reduce traffic congestion by constructing multi-level flyovers, skyways and junction improvements in the city, may not totally ease the traffic. The state government should improve the connectivity to various roads such as radial roads.
As part of the SRDP, the state government has taken up multi-level flyovers at 18 places in the city. As part of the project, the GHMC has proposed to cut 3,100 trees including 1,900 trees around KBR park.