Hyderabad: Disappointed at not being allotted AIIMS or funds for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya, the TS government is now pinning its hopes on Centre’s Supplementary Budget. While the Centre had promised to set up AIIMS in TS two years ago, the NITI-Aayog had recommended a grant of nearly Rs 20,000 crore to Misson Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha schemes. However, none of these schemes figured in the recent Union Budget.
The TS government has started stepping up pressure on the Centre to include these schemes at least in the Supplementary Budget in the ongoing Budget session. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is also expected to take up these issues with Prime Minister Modi and Union ministers concerned during his scheduled visit to New Delhi on February 6. Though the main aim of CM’s tour is to lead an all-party delegation to the PM to seek categorisation of SC reservations, he is planning to take up the issue of AIIMS, Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya.
Mr Rao has directed TRS MPs to utilise the ongoing Parliament session and take up the issues and schemes concerning TS during the debate on Budget and exert pressure on the Centre to incorporate them in the Supplementary Budget. He also directed party MPs and ministers to meet Union ministers in New Delhi and submit representations seeking AIIMS and funds for schemes.
The TS government’s special representatives in New Delhi have also been asked to follow up these issues regularly till the Budget session concludes. “We have been waiting for an announcement in the Budget on sanctioning AIIMS to Telangana for the last two years. This year, we were hopeful of getting AIIMS as suitable land was identified and proposals were submitted on time. But we were shocked to find that only Jharkhand and Gujarat were allotted AIIMS in the Budget. We will take up the issue with Centre and ensure that it makes a clear statement on sanctioning AIIMS to Telangana in this session,” said Dr S. Venugopala Chary, the TS special representative in New Delhi.
