Telangana govt wants to make Hyderabad plastic-free, replacing diesel buses with EVs: CM

Hyderabad, Dec 30 (PTI) Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday said the state government would like to move towards making the city plastic-free and introduce Electric Vehicles in place of diesel buses and autos in Hyderabad's core urban region.

Reddy, who held a meeting with officials, also told them that the government is taking up concrete measures to check pollution in the city.

He told the newly-appointed Zonal Commissioners of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) that the government would like to undertake development in the Core Urban Region Economy (CURE) area within the city's Outer Ring Road (ORR) in a planned manner.

He suggested preparing an action plan for the next five years.

Observing that waste management is a complex problem in Hyderabad, he said it is the responsibility of the Zonal Commissioners to address problems in their respective zones.

Reddy instructed that a special sanitation drive be taken up for three days in a month, besides a garbage clearance drive every 10 days, an official release said.

He directed that the roads should be free of potholes and garbage.

"... decided to fully ban plastic in the city. Lakes and drainages should be protected from encroachments. Also decided to bring EV vehicles in place of diesel buses and autos in CURE limits," the release quoted him as saying.

Reddy directed that the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA), GHMC and the city water works take up desilting of drainage systems in January.

He also said the Zonal Commissioners should take measures to check the mosquito menace and the spread of infectious diseases.

Speaking at the Telangana Rising Global Summit organised by the state government earlier this month, the chief minister had said the government's strategy is to make Telangana India’s first and only state to be divided into three clear zones for services, manufacturing, and agriculture.

"We call it the CURE, PURE, RARE model. Core Urban Region Economy (that is called CURE), Peri Urban Region Economy (is called PURE), Rural Agriculture Region Economy (is called RARE)," he had said.

With a view to ensuring planned development, the state government recently merged 27 municipalities with the GHMC and increased the number of GHMC wards from 150 to 300.

The government, on December 29, reorganised the existing three police commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda here and formed four commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Malkajgiri and Future City.

The Future City Commissionerate has been formed in view of the 'Bharat Future City' proposed to be developed by the state government on the outskirts of Hyderabad. PTI SJR SJR ADB