Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy took strong objection to the tone and tenor of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in criticising the Centre’s ₹ 20 lakh crore package announced recently and made it abundantly clear that the State governments cannot expect any direct money transfers.
In a digital press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Reddy said the Centre’s package was directed towards people’s welfare schemes and wanted KCR to list areas where he thinks the TS government will not benefit from the package. “Will it not help farmers, small and medium scale businessmen, provide fillip to the healthcare sector and so on? Can he say Telangana will have no benefit at all?” he questioned.
Mr. Reddy observed that instead of joining forces with the Central government in combating COVID-19 during these testing times, it was unfortunate that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government was indulging in political slugfest.
Direct benefit
The Minister reeled out figures of Centre’s assistance to Telangana — Under PM Kisan Samman about 34 lakh farmers got ₹2,000 each, 54 lakh women were given ₹500 on Jan Dhan accounts, 6.65 lakh got general pensions, 66,000 pensions were disbursed under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), ₹216 crore for health equipment, ₹924 crore given under the Revolution Fund, 1.75 crore people were distributed free rice, 20 lakh people were given dal, 4.71 lakh got free cylinders, scores of masks, protection kits and so on.
Saying that KCR was deliberately misleading the people, the Minister accused him of diverting the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) funds on village roads, Mission Kakatiya and greenhouses earlier. “KCR is the real dictator who threatened farmers of being ineligible for ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme unless they follow the government’s directions on raising crops. Village panchayats and urban local bodies were warned that they would not be given a single paisa if they do not become self-sufficient,” he said.
Free power
The State government is welcome to provide free power, but it is necessary to inform power distribution companies where the power is going as there are no meters in most places. Hence, electricity reforms are mandatory and there should not be any issue about it, Mr. Reddy said. Reforms announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and detailed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman are meant to help the farmers, migrant labourers and other sections. About 1,656 special trains were run so far for the migrant labour and reforms are the only way to provide succour to different sections of society, he added.
