Mancherial: Keeping in tune with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi government’s thrust on ensuring the welfare of all sections of society, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday launched the much awaited scheme for an assistance of Rs.1 lakh to artisans from caste-based occupations, apart from launching the Gruhalakshmi scheme that will ensure Rs.3 lakh each to homeless people to build houses on their own land. He also announced an increase of Rs.1,000 in Aasara pensions for the differently abled and a bonus of Rs.700 crore for all Singareni workers.
The Chief Minister, who handed over cheques worth Rs 1 lakh each to beneficiaries Kundarapu Murali from Velmapalli village in Kotapalli mandal and Mamidi Satyanarayana of Bheemaram mandal centre, also handed over house pattas and cheques for Rs 3 lakh to Birudula Laxmi and Thotapalli Lavanya, beneficiaries of Gruhalaxmi scheme from Donabanda village in Hajipur mandal.
The Chief Minister, who had a hectic schedule in Mancherial, also inaugurated a slew of developmental projects including the Integrated District Offices Complex (IDOC), and laid foundations for the Rs.1,658 crore-Chennur Lift Irrigation Scheme, the Mancherial Government Medical College, an oil palm industry complex and for a Rs.164 crore- bridge across the Godavari River.
The Aasara pensions, Chandrashekhar Rao said, would be hiked by Rs.1,000 from the existing Rs.3,016 per month. The announcement was made coinciding with the Welfare Day programmes observed as part of the decennial celebrations of Telangana State Formation day. The move, he said, would benefit around 5.16 lakh differently abled persons, starting next month.
Apart from the pension increase, the Chief Minister also declared a bonus of Rs.700 crore for all Singareni workers, well in advance of the Dasara festival, when these bonuses are usually announced.
He also gave cheques to beneficiaries of the second phase of sheep distribution scheme to Avula Venkatesh from Kasipet village in Thandur mandal and Bolaveni Odelu of Hajipur mandal headquarters.
Speaking at the Pragathi Nivedana public meeting at Mancherial later, Chandrashekhar Rao also voiced his concerns about the state of Singareni, emphasising that the Congress party had caused significant damage to the institution.
He pointed out that while the Congress party gave away 49 per cent stakes in Singareni Collieries Company Limited, the BJP was trying to privatise coal mining even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made assurances on the contrary. However, Modi cheated the people of Telangana by allowing the Coal Ministry to go ahead with coal block auctions, he said.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the well-being of the entire Telangana society was his focus, with the State government being committed to improve welfare and development of all citizens.
He highlighted the government’s efforts in the agricultural sector, with allocation of Rs.65,000 crore of financial assistance to farmers under the Rythu Bandhu scheme.
He declared that Telangana surpassed Punjab in paddy production during the Yasangi crop season by taking up paddy cultivation in nearly 56.4 lakh acres against the country’s 94 lakh acres.
Over 3 crore tonnes of paddy was being produced every year in Telangana, which also aims to cultivate oil farms on 20 lakh acres of land.
Emphasizing the State’s overall progress, Chandrashekhar Rao remarked on the positive transformation witnessed in Singareni since the State formation, with the company’s turnover increasing to Rs.33,000 crore.
He lashed out at the BJP-led Centre on its attempts to privatise coal mining and to encourage coal imports for benefit of the corporate companies, despite availability of over 361 billion tonnes of coal reserves in the country. He criticised the importation of coal from Australia and warned against the detrimental impact of such policies.
“To safeguard the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the State government took a policy decision to venture into mining of other minerals. Accordingly, the State government will award mining leases of other minerals within the State to the SCCL,” he added.
The Chief Minister also slammed the Congress over its malicious propaganda against Dharani, the official land records management portal.
He observed that by vowing to do away with the Dharani portal, Congress leaders were trying to bring back the middle-men system and ruin land records and registrations to fill their own pockets.
He stressed on the efficiency of the registration process, which can now be completed within 10 minutes, as opposed to the prolonged delays under the Congress regime.
“Dumping Dharani is nothing but dumping farmers and obstructing their benefits like Rythu Bandhu, direct benefit transfers and other schemes. Those who are making such statements should be dumped into the Bay of Bengal. Nearly 99 per cent land records have been streamlined and discrepancies, if any, will be rectified,” he said, also cautioning against reverting to the old registration system, which would lead to confusion and disputes in land records across the State.
Leave Comments