Will take ‘tough measures’ to ensure safety of women in Telangana: Chief Minister KCR

Hyderabad: Voicing concern over incidents of crime against women, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) on Sunday said there "is a danger of Hyderabad becoming like Delhi" and vowed to take tough measures to ensure safety of women including bringing in a "special" legislation, if needed.

"There seems to be no security for women and there is a danger of Hyderabad becoming like Delhi. Incidents like rape and harassment of women are happening in Hyderabad as well.

There should be complete protection if Hyderabad's brand image is to be safeguarded and if our women are to move about freely at midnight. Earlier, I had said that we would get tough to ensure this," he said at a party meeting here.

"Within one month from today, rowdy elements in Hyderabad will wet their pants in fear if they even look at women. We are doing the needful. Their eyes will get plucked out. We will be tough. If what I say becomes controversial, then so be it," Rao said.

Rao was addressing a joint meeting of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other leaders, where he also spoke at length about his government's development initiatives and programmes.

Read: Telangana plans women safety lessons

"We will get tough and this is the message that I want to send out. Don't we have mothers or daughters? They must be protected. It would be an insult if there is no security for women. That would need tough action. If necessary, we will pass a special act during the coming budget session (of the Telangana Assembly)," he said.

Alleging that opposition parties have attacked the TRS government though it has been in office just for a few months, he said that it is working to implement all election promises.

The TRS government closed down clubs where cards were played and is also against engineering colleges which do not provide quality education, Rao said.

He said that he gets described as a "Hitler whenever he called a spade, a spade".

Concrete steps are being taken to address promises like farm loan waiver, land distribution for Scheduled Castes, providing financial assistance to girls at the time of marriage (under the 'Kalyana Laxmi' and 'Shadi Mubarak' schemes), enhancing social security pensions, revival of minor irrigation systems, and providing safe drinking water to all households among others, Rao said.

He appealed to NRIs from Telangana to provide land owned by them to the government at an attractive price, if they are not interested in cultivation, so that these lands could be distributed to downtrodden sections of society.

The government has taken major steps to celebrate the cultural heritage of Telangana by organising the Bathukamma festival and recognising artistes, he said.

Sportspersons including Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta and P V Sindhu have been encouraged, he said.

Talking about the shortage of power in the state, he agreed that no immediate solution could be found for now. However, he said that Telangana would have surplus power in about three years.

The Telangana state government expected power from the Krishnapatnam power plant, but Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu government "has conspired to see that it does not materialise now", he alleged. "It is a conspiracy by Government of Andhra Pradesh," Rao said.