HYDERABAD: Flamboyance is set to be passé in the Secunderabad Cantonment. High-sounding projects and glib talk about quantum leaps in the administration, too, are on the way out. All, this if new Cantonment Executive Officer V. Premchand has his way.

Mr. Premchand, who assumed charge recently, believes in first getting the basics right. And that includes amenities like roads, street lighting, water supply and garbage disposal.

"There is no point in talking about big projects when basic necessities are yet to be taken care of," he says. He has in fact begun his moves. A Cantonment Development Plan is being prepared. Garbage, a sore sight across the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), is being cleared and a plastic bin system on the lines of the Suryapet is being experimented with in Bowenpally.

Road repairs

Long-pending road works, too, have started and one by one, all roads are being repaired. Plans are on to address the glitches that affected the public grievance system in SCB. All this however, the CEO acknowledges, will take some time.

At the same time, the apparent spool-back to basics could mean that a few projects that were on the anvil might have to wait. These, according to SCB sources, could include the Rs.7-crore proposal for shifting/renovation of Bolarum hospital and the Rs. 271.22-crore underground drainage network project.

What will be put on the backburner and what will get a green signal could become clear with the much-delayed SCB budget meeting, expected to be held in a couple of weeks.

The budget meeting, which will revise the original budget, presented last year by the Varied Board and propose a new one for next year, will also see review of previous allocations and nomination of five Defence officials to the board.

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