Ramp up pace of devpt work, government told

Hyderabad: There is an urgent need to increase the pace of development work in Telangana State, said Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya here on Saturday.

The Centre is extending financial support through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for the double bedroom housing scheme in the State and the state government should ensure that the project is completed on schedule and the poor benefit from it, he said.

The Minister was addressing a media conference after reviewing with officials of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh development activities related to housing, health and education.

"The Centre has sanctioned 1,51,155 houses for Telangana State (under PM Awas Yojana). Of these, 70,674 were for rural areas with Rs 508-crore funds and 80,481 in urban areas with Rs 1,207 crore. "But the State government has so far called tenders for only 1,39,000 houses. Of these, tenders had been finalised for 85,000 houses and the construction work had started for just 40,000 houses," Dattatreya said.

"There is an urgent need to increase the pace at which the State government has to work," said the Lok Sabha MP from Secunderabad in Telangana. The Minister said he would hold a review meeting with Telangana Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao on the double bedroom scheme implementation.

Dattatreya also said the South Central Railway would soon start a new train between Karimnagar and Mumbai. About improving transport network in Hyderabad, he said the TRS government has to allot funds and provide land for the completion of MMTS (Multi-Model Transport System) Phase-II by December 2018.