People of the Old City were being kept thirsty by denying Krishna phase-two water to them as it was being taken to quench the thirst of others, AIMIM Floor Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi alleged in the Assembly on Saturday.
Speaking on the Motion of Thanks on the Governor’s Address, he said although the movement for Statehood to Telangana was fought for due share in river waters, funds and employment, available water was not being given to the people of Old City.
Stating that the budgetary allocation for minorities was increased to about ₹2,000 crore last year from just ₹26 crore in the combined Andhra Pradesh government, he said it was not released in full due to shortfall in GST devolution from the Centre.
He criticised the government for neglecting several historical institutions and landmarks in Hyderabad such as Osmania General Hospital, Osmania University, Secretariat and others as they were in bad shape due to paltry allocation of funds year-by-year. Turning to the Centre, he alleged that it was handing step-motherly treatment to Telangana and denying due share of funds to the State. It was nothing but undermining the autonomy of States in the federal structure, he felt.
The debate on the motion was moved by A. Ramesh and seconded by K.P. Vivekanand, both legislators of the TRS. Mr. Ramesh said the TRS government was not discriminating the Assembly constituencies represented by other parties unlike in the past when development used to be concentrated only in the segments of the Chief Minister and a few ministers. He stated that no welfare scheme was pruned in spite of economic slowdown.
