By Md Ilyas
Copyright deccanchronicle
Vijayawada: Municipal administration and urban development minister P. Narayana on Thursday announced that the government has drawn up plans to provide new drinking water tap connections to 8,57,966 households across municipalities within the next two to three years.Replying to a question from Mydukur MLA P. Sudhakar Yadav during Question Hour in the Assembly, the minister accused the previous government of negligence, which led to the suspension of several urban development works despite central allocations. He said that although the Centre had released funds under various urban development schemes, projects were stalled as the state government then failed to release its matching share. Narayana said, “The government has drawn up plans to provide new drinking water tap connections to 8,57,966 households across municipalities within the next two to three years. At present, out of 39,91,225 urban households in the state, potable water tap connections are available to 25,63,593 households, while steps are underway to extend the facility to new beneficiaries. Another 5,69,669 households will get tap connections through the Centre’s Urban Challenge Fund,” he added. The minister recalled that under AMRUT 1.0 (2014–19), the Centre sanctioned Rs 2,559 crore, of which works worth Rs 1,615 crore were completed before the remaining projects were left midway. Similarly, under AMRUT 2.0, the Centre allocated Rs 6,524 crore, but projects did not progress due to lack of matching funds from the earlier regime. Likewise, though the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank sanctioned Rs 5,350 crore in February 2019, the projects failed to take off for want of the state’s share. “We are holding fresh talks with the Centre to revive these funds,” Narayana said. He further explained that the state had secured Rs 2,882 crore under the Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF), including Rs 595 crore for GVMC projects. Once Cabinet approval is obtained, tenders will be invited for works proposed under AMRUT 2.0. Giving a case study, the minister said Mydukur municipality currently receives 3.73 MLD of drinking water per day, but by 2040, demand would rise to 12.45 MLD. To meet future needs, works worth Rs 99.7 crore have been sanctioned under AMRUT to draw 0.18 TMC of water from the Srisailam right canal, located 11 km away. Replying to another question, Narayana also gave details of the status of TIDCO housing projects. He said that between 2014 and 2019, the Centre sanctioned 7,01,481 TIDCO houses to Andhra Pradesh. Administrative approvals were secured and tenders invited for 5.14 lakh houses, but the previous government reduced the number to 2,61,640, leaving many incomplete. “At present, construction has been completed at 51 locations, while works are pending in 112 other locations. To complete the projects and clear pending contractor bills, we require a total of Rs 6,139 crore,” Narayana said. He added that HUDCO had agreed to provide Rs 4,500 crore as loan support, which will be used to clear bills and resume construction once released.
