Guests are here, where’s the host?
With the date for the CBD summit approaching, the City shows no sign of being prepared to welcome its guests
The whole world is going to be in Hyderabad 100 days from now and yet the City is hopelessly unprepared for it.
The world convention of biological diversity (CBD) slated for October 1-19 will bring some 12,000 participants from 190 countries to Hyderabad. There would also be heads of state from at least 12 countries and it is billed to be the biggest event after independence.
How prepared are we? Enquiries reveal that the AP State government which ought to have taken the lead to help the GHMC with funds and moral support is dozing as it is caught in its own web of inefficiency and political crisis. It is two months since the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought `1,028 crore for the event. No information has been forthcoming if Delhi plans to divest part or full of the amount sought, and the time is running out.
“What use it would be even if the funds come at the last moment?” wondered GD Priyadarshini, additional commissioner on works and coordination at GHMC. The Corporation, entrusted with the prestigious task, is yet to get a rupee. Whatever works of road maintaining it has undertaken is with its own funds and with the help of the corporate sector. “We are still optimistic the government will chip in,” she sounded positive but the tone and tenor of her betray desperation. Several arterial roads are to be taken up for works before the world marches in.
More, it is learnt that what the GHMC does now is the usual pre-monsoon and post-monsoon maintenance of roads and infrastructure. Nothing special for the CBD. This is a fact not known to the people outside the corporation circles.
And, mayor Mohd Majid Hussain is no less shrill in his denial of funds for the CBD. The mayor is on record saying that the corporation, strapped for funds, is in no position to shore up so huge a financial support as the CBD demands. However, he has climbed down from his earlier stance of “will not spend a paise from the GHMC kitty,’ to “at the most `50-70 crore.”
Additional commissioner Dhananjay Reddy is worried on another count. At least part of its road works that cost over a `100 crore would be a waste since the well-laid roads for the CBD would be demolished by the metro rail in most instances. But he resigns to the fate saying it is something “we can’t help.”
That the State government, tied up with its political crisis, is showing no interest towards this matter is evident. At stake is the City and the country’s prestige.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Loading ...
Exchange Rate
