Hyderabad: The long-delayed Charminar Pedestrian Project (CPP) will be completed in five months, municipal administration minister K.T. Rama Rao told the TS Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
He said in five months, Charminar will get a footpath for pedestrians besides battery-run vehicles and buses being introduced for better transportation to control pollution near the historic monument.
Though the project was launched 17 years ago to make Charminar a vehicle-free zone, successive governments failed to complete it so far. Mr Rama Rao told the House that the actual works started only in 2007.
MIM members Akbaruddin Owaisi, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri took up the issue of inordinate delay in completing the CPP.
Mr Rama Rao told the members that the state government had accorded administrative sanction for Rs 35.10 crore for taking up CPP, of which the Centre and state’s share was Rs 17.55 crore and GHMC’s share Rs 17.55 crore.
He said the government had already spent Rs 30.50 crore on the project and the remaining funds would be sufficient to complete the left over work.
The project consists of a 5.4 km (60 feet) outer ring road and a 2.3 km (40 feet) inner ring road, and cobble pavement on all the four roads leading to Charminar. The inner and outer ring roads are almost complete.
Cobble stone work on Lad Bazar road is pending as the shopkeepers are not permitting to take up the balance works. “The GHMC is pursuing the issue with the shopkeepers to complete the balance works,” Mr Rama Rao said. He said the TRS government was committed to providing better amenities in the coming months in the Old City and ensure its all-round development.
