Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly condemned the BJP government at the Centre for not fulfilling the assurances given to Telangana at the time of its formation as per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Opposing the ‘Motion of Thanks’ on President Ramnath Kovind’s address in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the people of Telangana were highly disappointed with the President’s Address.
“What was assured for Telangana and its people when the state was created has not been addressed till date. We expected there would be some mention of those promises in this address. The unfulfilled promises include a railway coach factory at Kazipet, a steel plant at Bayyaram and many others,” he said.
Stating that the President has mentioned about two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, Mr Reddy said a similar promise was made for Telangana two-and-a-half years ago. He said the AIIMS at Bibinagar was yet to become fully functional and in-patient services were not yet started.
Mr Reddy demanded that the Centre establish a Military History Museum in Suryapet. “The President talked about martyrs of the Galwan valley. I was a soldier. I have served on China and Pak borders. Col. Santosh Babu, who was martyred on the China border, belonged to my constituency, and was an alum of the National Defence Academy like me. In his memory, the government should open a military history museum in Suryapet,” he demanded.
Criticising the three new farm laws, Reddy said the controversial legislations have already started making a negative impact on lives of farmers. He said a few MPs have asked the opposition to cite instances where farm laws have caused damage.
Giving examples, he said Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, made an announcement that the state government would be closing down all IKP and PACs centers, which procure agriculture produce of farmers at minimum support price.
“CM K. Chandrashekar Rao has cited the new farm laws as reasons for closing down procurement centres from this rabi season onwards in Telangana,” he said.
He demanded that the conversations between PM Modi and CM Rao be made public.
Mr Reddy also said the PM Asha Scheme, which was launched with much fanfare to ensure MSP, was deprived of adequate funds. While Rs 1,500 crore was allocated in 2019-20, the allocation was reduced to Rs 500 crore in 2020-21 and further slashed to Rs 400 crore in 2021-22.
He described the crop insurance scheme, PM Fasal Bima Yojna, as a total flop. He said not a single farmer from Telangana was covered under this scheme. He said nearly 25 lakh acres of standing crops were damaged due to heavy rains in Telangana. However, not a single farmer got any compensation or crop insurance to cover the damage.
He alleged that ten insurance companies were exploiting farmers in the name of Fasal Bima Yojna. He said the total premium of approximately Rs 1.35 lakh crore was paid to insurance companies. However, they settled claims of only about Rs 90,000 crore, which means insurance companies pocketed a profit of nearly Rs 45,000 crore from the public exchequer.
He reminded that Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, during his visit to Telangana, made a public promise that the Centre would constitute a turmeric board. However, he said no steps have been taken to fulfil this promise. He demanded the Centre to take immediate steps to constitute a turmeric board to help farmers.
