Hyderabad: Banks have turned down the proposal of the Telangana state government that the photo of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao should be printed on the cheques that are to be sent to farmers. All farmers are to receive a handout of Rs 8,000 per acre from the government.
The banks have said that the Reserve Bank of India rules do not permit such individual requests, but they will forward to the RBI the request that the cheques be printed in pink, the colour of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
With a crucial election year coming up, the TRS leadership wants to derive maximum political benefit from the payout to lakhs of farmers (over '10,000 cr).
On Friday, the Chief Minister himself vetoed another sycophantic proposal — to print his photograph on the new electronic pattadar passbooks that will be distributed to all land owners in the state in March now that the verification of all land records in the state has been carried out. The Chief Minister chose a dark green cover for the passbook as it symbolises crops, but said there was no need for anyone’s photo except that of the passbook holder/farmer along with the Telangana state government’s emblem. “No need for any photograph of any politician,” the CM stated.
