On March 12, KT Rama Rao, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister, Telangana, threatened to disconnect electricity and water supplied to the military authorities. He said if the armed forces did not stop causing inconvenience to the people, the Telangana government might disconnect the supplies.
“We will cut power and water supply if needed to military authorities (Cantonment limits) because it is not fair to close the roads whenever they want,” said Telangana IT Minister and TRS working president KTR Rao in the State Legislative Assembly yesterday pic.twitter.com/fO30WrSiom
— ANI (@ANI) March 13, 2022
Rao was speaking during the question hour on the implementation of the Strategic Nala Development Program in the city.
Rao blames the Centre for inaction
Rao claimed the state government had filed complaints with the Centre over the issues, including road closures and obstructions caused by the military authorities in the Nala development program. He claimed the Centre had not taken any action in the matter and it was causing inconvenience to the people.
He said, “Telangana is not a different country. Our officials will hold a meeting with them. If they don’t understand, we have to take strong action. If needed, we will cut power and water supplies to them and see whether they will climb down from their stand.” He further directed the state government officials to arrange a meeting with the Local Military Authorities (LMA) and cantonment authorities immediately.
KTR claimed the check dam constructed by the military authorities on Balkapur Nala is causing flooding in the Nadeem colony. He further said the Archaeological Survey of India has refused to allow the state government to execute Nala development work near Golconda fort.
Claiming zero contribution from the central govt in phase one of the project, he targeted G Kisha Reddy, BJP MP from Hyderabad, and said Reddy failed to bring any financial assistance for the project from the centre.
‘Threatening Army is unacceptable’
NV Subhash, state spokesperson, BJP, called KTR’s comment shocking and said the minister does not have respect for the armed forces. He questioned if the TRS government was trying to remove the military base from Hyderabad. He added, “These threats will not work all the time, and very soon, the public will teach them a lesson. Threatening the military authorities is unacceptable, and we condemn it. TRS government should be ashamed of the way they show their respect towards our military authorities.”