Hyderabad: Former minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan’s address to Telangana Legislature on the first day of the budget session on Friday was completely silent on key electoral promises made and missed several important issues.
“Governor’s address is considered as ‘Progress Report’ and ‘Vision Document’ of a government. However, Dr. Soundararajan’s speech sounded more like a TRS pamphlet than an official document. It is highly unfortunate that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s government made the Governor speak lies, tell half-truths and make false claims in her maiden speech,” Shabbir Ali said in a media statement.
Shabbir Ali said there was no mention of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizenship (NRC) or National Population Register (NPR) in the Governor’s Address. It is a major policy issue and KCR Govt should have announced through Governor’s Address that it was against the controversial law and it would not be implemented in Telangana, he said.
“Govt has admitted of impact on State’s economy but failed to present a clear picture. It is still trapped in the web of fake claims and irrelevant comparison of ‘we are better than other States’. Claims on per capita income rising to Rs. 1.50 lakh in rural areas and Rs. 2 lakh in urban areas look overstated. If these figures are really true, then Telangana can be officially declared as State with no poverty,” he said while pointing out that official figures show that nearly 40 lakh people (about 12% of the total population) are surviving on Aasra pensions while 30 lakh youth (about 8.5%) are jobless.
About 1.91 crore poor people are covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). “Similar fake claims of Telangana being richest State has led to a huge cut in Central funds in the past,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the Governor’s Address had no mention of debts of nearly Rs. 3 lakh crore and how State Government proposes to come out of them. “Reducing the age limit for Old Age pension from 65 to 57 years was a second major promise in TRS manifesto for 2018 elections. It remained unimplemented for the last one year and again the promise was repeated in Governor’s address.
TRS Govt is boasting of running 959 Residential Schools. It should’ve clarified how many of them are running in rented buildings with no playgrounds and other facilities. More than 4,000 schools were closed in the last six years and hundreds of colleges were shut down. Lakhs of students discontinued higher students due to lack of Fee Reimbursement and scholarships. There are no Vice-Chancellors in State Universities,” he said.
Shabbir Ali said that the Health Sector was in a deteriorating condition in Telangana. He said that the Governor’s address was completely silent on deaths due to Dengue, Malaria and other diseases in the last year. It did not talk about cut in the Health budget by over 30% last year. Where are the promised Super Speciality Hospitals in all district headquarters? While institutional deliveries have increased, Telangana is still among top States in cesarean deliveries which causes financial and health burden, he said.
The Congress leader also condemned the TRS Government for not making a mention of 12% reservation for Muslims and STs in the Governor’s address. Similarly, he said the Governor mentioned about sanctioning of 2,72,783 houses for poor. But she did not mention how many of them have been constructed and actually delivered. This figure has been repeated in many budget speeches and Governor’s Address in the past, he said.
“There is also no clarity on the promise of giving Rs. 5-6 lakh assistance to people owning a plot. More than 40% of farmers are not getting Rythu Bandhu support and no mention of when loan waiver to farmers up to Rs 1 lakh will be done. Governor’s Address completely skipped the unemployment topic and it was not specified from when the Unemployed Allowance of Rs. 3,016 per month will be given to youth. The new PRC for employees was also missing from the Governor’s speech,” he said.
Shabbir Ali also accused the TRS Government of lying about the assistance given to families of Telangana Martyrs. “Let the government issue a detailed statement giving a district-wise list of beneficiaries of martyrs’ families who were paid Rs. 10 lakh ex-gratia and also given a job. The majority of families are yet to get the promised benefits. Cases pertaining to Telangana agitation were not withdrawn and careers of thousands of youth who participate in the movement have been ruined,” he alleged.
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