Vijayawada: Minister for municipal administration and urban development Ponguru Narayana has said steps are being taken to improve the infrastructure within the 20 urban development authorities in the state. On Thursday, he told the media after a meeting with officials of these institutions that the measures taken to improve their financial status and infrastructure were reviewed. “There are 123 urban local bodies across the state, out of which 122 ULBs, except Mandapeta, are covered by urban development bodies.” He said that there was one CRDA and 20 urban development authorities in the state, and the main objective of establishing these was to take care of electricity, roads, drinking water, parks and sewage systems in the layouts under their jurisdiction. The previous government diverted the funds of the respective entities and used them in various ways, with the result that the infrastructure in the layouts did not improve and these have reached the stage of debilitation, he said. “Several steps will be taken to revive and improve the performance of the urban development authorities,” he said. Narayana said that an inquiry committee has been formed to probe irregularities in the layouts of Nellore and Kadapa, and “strict action will be taken against the errant.” Similarly, he said there were large-scale irregularities in the issuance of TDR bonds in Tanuku. TDR bonds worth more than ` 700 crore were issued while actually TDR bonds worth `36 crore were to be issued.” “As a result, those who bought the bonds were facing many problems. A full investigation will be conducted and appropriate action taken against those responsible for this.” The minister said the construction work of MIG houses have also been stopped at various stages due to financial problems and this issue would be taken up at the highest level and resolved. Narayana said that during Telugu Desam government’s last tenure, drinking water was provided to every house round-the-clock, while works on three water drainage pipes, three water purification plants and flood water drainage canals had been taken up. “A sum of 5,300 crore has been allocated by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for this purpose. But the previous government spent only `240 crore out of this and left the rest of the funds unused, as it was not in a position to allocate the state’s share. He said that if this project had been completed, at least 50 per cent of the municipalities would not have faced drinking water problems. The deadline for implementation of that project had expired by the end of last month. Hence, a letter has been written to the AII Bank seeking an extension of the project period, so that the state would be able to utilize the remaining funds under this project, he added.
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