Hyderabad: Former Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir ridiculed the TRS manifesto for GHMC elections, released by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, and described it as a bundle of lies.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Shabbir Ali said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has a long history of making false promises during elections. He said that the TRS Government never fulfilled the electoral promises it has been making since 2014. He said that the list of unfulfilled promises made by CM KCR is too long and people should not trust him or the TRS Government.
Citing examples, Shabbir Ali said that the TRS Govt had promised to develop Hyderabad like Dallas and Old City like Istanbul. Now it is promising that Musi river would be developed like the Thames River in London.
Similarly, he said that the TRS Govt had promised shifting of Chanchalguda Jail and Hyderabad Race Course from Malakpet; Execution of ITIR region; Transforming Hyderabad into a software hub like Silicon Valley; A hardware hub like Shanghai; Establishment of Technology Development Bank; Hyderabad as Wifi City; Shifting of military installations in Secunderabad Cantonment and other parts; Cleaning of Hussainsagar Lake; New ‘Vinayak Sagar’ near Indira Park; World’s tallest building at Sanjeevaiah Park; Skyscraper Zone at 40 locations around Hussainsagar lake; Elevated corridors, Skyways and Multi-level grade separators; Signal Free City; Bangkok traffic model; Slum-free city and another airport in the northern part of Hyderabad. Before asking people to trust the new promises, CM KCR must explain whether all old promises have been fulfilled. He also pointed out that the TRS Govt, immediately after coming to power in 2014, had promised to spend Rs. 30,000 crore for the development of Hyderabad. However, not even Rs. 10,000 crore were spent in the last 7 years, he said.
Shabbir Ali said that the drinking water problem in Hyderabad was resolved due to the initiatives taken by the previous Congress Government. He reminded that the previous Congress regime had executed three phases of the Krishna Water project and the first phase of the Godavari River water project which cumulatively ensured the supply of nearly 26.5 TMC of water to the city. He said that the TRS Govt only painted the existing reservoirs and pipelines with Mission Bhaghiratha to stake a fake claim that it resolved the drinking water problem. Similarly, he said that the city was getting uninterrupted power supply due to the projects implemented during the Congress regime.
Referring to the promises of waiving off motor vehicle tax for two quarters during the COVID-19 period to the tune of Rs 267 crore for 3,37,611 vehicles, Shabbir Ali said that this was the long pending demand of transport operators. He said that the Chief Minister delayed the decision to the extent that it completely crippled the transport industry leading to the loss of lakhs of jobs. He said hundreds of transport operators have shut down their businesses as they were unable to pay MV Tax for their vehicles during the lockdown period. He said it was strange that the Chief Minister was presenting his failure to address the grievances of the travel industry as an election promise.
He also asked Municipal Administration Minister and TRS Working President K. Tarakarama Rao to give clarity on the status of the 100-Day Action Plan which he had announced on February 18, 2016, after winning GHMC elections.
Some of the promises made by KTR included functionalization of GHMC Ward Committees and Area Sabhas; Completion of 569 BT Road works; Development of 50 Bus bays; Construction of 40 Model Markets; reduction of 1,116 Garbage Vulnerable Points; Modernization of 4 slaughterhouses; Development of 150 fully equipped gymnasiums; Development of 329 sports grounds; Bank Linkage of Rs.100 Cr to 4,352 Self Help Groups (SHGs), etc.,
Most importantly, Shabbir Ali said that the TRS Government should explain as to why it failed to deliver one lakh 2BHK units. “Even after seven years, CM KCR did not fulfill the promise of giving one lakh jobs, and almost two years after completing the second term he did not give a promised Unemployment Allowance of Rs. 3,016 to the jobless youth,” he said.
Shabbir Ali said that people have realized that CM KCR and his son KTR were not trustworthy as they don’t fulfill the electoral promises. “Congress party, during its rule from 2004-2014 had spent over Rs. 1 lakh crore for the development and I’m ready to prove it. I challenge KTR for an open debate on the issue if he can prove that TRS Govt had spent about Rs. 67,000 crore on city’s development during the last 7 years. I’m ready to take ‘political sanyas’ if KTR proves me wrong,” he challenged KTR.
