The Telangana Government has decided to shift the famous TB and Chest Hospital of Erragadda to Vikarabad town of Ranga Reddy, on the outskirts of Hyderabad amid the speculation that it wants to utilise the vast land of hospital to develop permanent parade ground. A formal Government order was issued on Tuesday.
The idea came up after the historic Golkonda Fort was found unsatisfactory for conducting the ceremonial Parade on the occasion of Independence Day forcing the State Government to revert to the old venue of Secunderabad Parade Grounds of Defence Department for the Republic Day parade. But the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was not fully satisfied with this arrangement.
“The Chief Minister is keen to develop the land of TB and mental hospitals at Erragadda as permanent Parade Ground of the State Government,” a highly placed source said. The Chief Minister had recently visited both the hospitals and expressed his dissatisfaction over the conditions of the hospitals in the congested and polluted area.
Consequently the State Government decided to release an amount of Rs7.5 crore to develop TB Hospital at Vikarabad. A TB Sanitorium was built by the Nizam Government at Vikarabad, 70 kms away from Hyderabad. The same place will now be developed in to a major hospital and Erragadda hospital will be relocated there. Similarly the mental hospital will also be shifted.
This move will make 110 acres of land in Hyderabad city available for developing Parade Ground. However, some part of the land will have to be cleared of encroachments. The KCR Government has also proposed shifting some other old institutions including Chanchalguda Central Jail and Race Course from Malakpet both in the congested parts of the old city.
This will not only unlock huge tracts of lands but also help in decongesting both the areas paving the way for development plans.