Hyderabad: The Telangana government came under fire from the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday for the slow pace of works for the Godavari Pushkaralu, which begin on July 14.
Opposition parties cautioned the government that if at all the event was to be successful, it should ensure that all works should be completed before the monsoon in June.
“You (the government) are boasting of conducting the first pushkaralu in Telangana on par with the Kumbh mela by spending Rs 900 crore. But, out of this, Rs 750 crore was sought from the Centre, which is yet to come. From the state government side, only '150 crore is being spent,” said BJP legislator N.V.V.S. Prabhakar.
“Even out of this, only a small amount has been released. The information that I obtained shows that that not a single ghat has been set up so far. How much time will it take to spend hundreds of crores of rupees,” he said.
“Unless you expedite the works, there is no possibility of holding the pushkaralu even in a normal manner, leave alone like the Kumbh mela,” Mr Prabhakar said.
Congress legislator D.K. Aruna said, “None of the roads leading to the bathing ghats have been laid, nor have temples near the ghats been restored. They are in a pathetic condition. Largescale irregularities are taking place in the execution of works and award of tenders.”
In reply, endowments minister A. Indrakaran Reddy said the government was giving the utmost priority for the pushkaralu. “There is no compromise with the idea of holding them on par with the Kumbh mela,” he said.
Mr Reddy said the government had constituted a Cabinet sub-committee exclusively to oversee arrangements for the pushkaralu, which was reviewing the progress of works with all departments frequently.
“We are trying to complete all the works by May itself,” he said.
Stating that Telangana was neglected during the earlier pushkaralu in undivided AP, he said, “For Seemandhra rulers, the Godavari pushkaralu meant conducting them in Rajahmundry. They never bothered about Telangana. There were only 27 ghats in Telangana, which we have now increased to 88.”
