Kishan Reddy Defends VB-GRAMG Act, Flays Congress

Hyderabad: Union coal and mines minister G. Kishan Reddy on Monday said reforms were mandatory for national growth by correcting systemic loopholes, and accused the Opposition Congress of running a misinformation campaign against the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB G RAM G Act), passed in the Winter Session of Parliament.

Speaking at the state BJP office, Reddy said the new legislation would benefit the poor, farmers, and rural economy through enhanced accountability and technology integration. He said there were delays under the old rural employment scheme, MGNREGA, where wages in Telangana were often held up for two to three months. “G RAM G Act will ensure timely payments without a single rupee lost to corruption,” he asserted.

Reddy said the new Act gave states authority over implementation and timing, aligned with agricultural seasons, while the Centre would bear additional costs of ₹17,000 crore nationally, and Telangana ₹340 crore, compared to last year. He stressed that the new scheme fostered village development and extra income for rural families under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee.

Key reforms include mandatory work provision for all job card holders, unemployment allowance if work was not provided within 15 days, and a daily 5 per cent penalty on delayed wage payments, credited directly via DBT to workers’ accounts. Administrative funding had risen to 9 per cent of total expenditure for better supervision, with technology such as geo-tagging for central monitoring and robust social audits to curb leakages like fake job cards and middlemen exploitation.

On demands for national status to irrigation projects in Telangana, Reddy said legal limitations prevent new projects from being recognised as national projects. He noted that Polavaram was included in the state bifurcation Act as an exception, and added that BJP favours national status for the Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation project through alternative funding from two ministries.

Reddy claimed BJP is the only alternative in state politics, predicting the party’s return to power while dismissing BRS as a declining force. He said results of Lok Sabha and MLC elections have proved BJP’s rising strength in Telangana. Extending Sankranti greetings, he emphasised the festival’s cultural ties to nature and farmers’ lives in Telugu states.

BJP MLAs Palvai Harish Babu, state general secretary Dr. N. Goutham Rao, SC Morcha national secretary S. Kumar, and senior leaders Dr. S. Prakash Reddy, Venkata Reddy, Vakula Bharanam and others were present.