Hyderabad: Stating that many State governments were replicating Telangana’s welfare and development programmes, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao asked builders and developers from Maharashtra to exert pressure on their government for implementation of the Telangana State Building Permissions and Self Certification System (TS-bPASS) model.
“Take a copy of TS-bPASS to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and insist on implementation of the system. If he does not, then we will come and implement it in Maharashtra,” Rama Rao said while addressing CREDAI Maharashtra members at T-Hub here on Saturday.
Following Telangana’s success in the Comprehensive Road Management Programme, the Maharashtra government was implementing the same programme in Mumbai, he said, asking the builders to tell their government to send its officers here to study how TS-bPASS worked. He also pointed out that some Ministers and officials from Karnataka were in Hyderabad as part of the Congress Working Committee meeting happening here.
“They have come here to defeat the BRS government. No issues, but the good thing is that the Congress Ministers are learning different aspects, especially waste to energy and building plan approval systems. Likewise, a team had also come from Yogi ji’s Uttar Pradesh two days ago to study TS-bPASS,” Rama Rao said, adding that he would say proudly that what Telangana was doing today, the rest of India would do it tomorrow.
“We are a trendsetter, we are a torchbearer, we are a trailblazer,” he said, adding that Telangana was planning not just for today, but for the future as well.
Stressing that investment in infrastructure was key for a State or nation’s development, the Minister said Telangana had focused on infra development and it paid rich dividends. The State was also taking up the country’s largest slum development programme. Asia’s largest dignity housing colony was constructed at Kollur, he said appealing to the CREDAI Maharashtra members to visit the colony.
“BJP just raises slogans of Saab ka Saath ka Vikas but BRS government delivers,” Rama Rao said, if India needed to become a five trillion economy, a lot of investment had to be made in infrastructure development in urban areas as this would lead to creating wealth. Unfortunately, not many governments understand this basic aspect.
Telangana had raised loans and invested in the productive sector, he said, citing instances like the Kaleshwaram and Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation projects.
As part of planning for the future, the Cabinet had approved Metro service all along the ORR. At present, Hyderabad Metro service was covering 70 km and plans were laid to increase this to 415 km, he said, adding that this would help in better transit oriented development in the future. Hyderabad had beaten Bengaluru in office space absorption continuously in four quarters. The State government had also planned for energy and water security for the next 30 years, the Minister said.
The State government permits unlimited Floor Space Index (FSI). It was important to grow vertical, considering the growing population. After Mumbai, Hyderabad was home for the most number of skyscrapers in the country, he said.
In the last eight years, 24,000 permissions were approved under TS-iPASS and investments to the tune of $50 billion came, besides generating employment for 24 lakh persons, he said.
