Hyderaba Alleging gross neglect of Telangana in undivided Andhra Pradesh, including the denial of its rightful share of river waters, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Independence Day said the government was trying to undo the damage of the past. The state was now No. 1 in welfare measures in the country, he said.
Farmers would get nine hours of power during the daylight hours from March next and the state would have 25,000 MW by 2018-19, Mr Rao said after inaugurating the national flag to mark the Independence Day celebrations.
He said that in the past one year, the government had focussed on welfare, agriculture, energy, industry and irrigation. The government had earmarked Rs 28,000cr for welfare programmes.
“By March next, we will ensure nine-hour power supply in the day to the farm sector. To achieve self reliance in the power sector, we have planned investments of Rs 91,500 crore in thermal, hydel and solar projects. By 2018-2019, the state will have 25,000 MW of power,” he said.
Stating all sections of people including farmers, students, and industry had faced power cuts for 30 years, he said the new state, despite predictions of power blackouts if undivided AP was bifurcated, had overcome the problems and ensured that power cuts were a thing of the past.
Taking an indirect dig at AP Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu’s claim of developing Hyderabad city, he said the city faced multiple problems including drinking water for 1.42 crore residents in the HMDA area due to neglect by the previous governments.
To make Hyderabad a global city, the government is taking up a Rs 21,000-cr developmental programme including construction of two new reservoirs for the city with 30 TMC capacity in addition to the Himayatsagar and Osmansagar reservoirs, he said.
The CM said the irrigation sector in Telangana had suffered immensely in undivided AP. “We did not get our share of water. The water allocations of 912 TMC in the Godavari river and 368 TMC in the Krishna river were merely on paper. Projects were incomplete and many were struck in interstate disputes. We are undoing it,” he said.
The CM announced the launch of the Rs 25,000-crore Grama Jyoti programme. He talked about successful Mission Kakatiya, grant of permissions to 36 industries under the new policy, launch of Rs 25,000-cr Water Grid to provide drinking water to every home, release of Rs 8,500-cr farm loan out of Rs 17,000 crore, payment of Rs 480cr pending subsidy to farmers and provision of Rs 250 crore greenhouse scheme.
Besides the CM’s family, ministers, MPs, MLAs, Opposition leaders K. Jana Reddy, Shabbir Ali and others were present.
