Hyderabad, November 02: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday claimed that no poor person in the State would sleep without food from today onwards.
Speaking after launching the Rs 1-a-kilo rice scheme at Khairtabad, the Chief Minister said that the scheme was launched to ensure that basic food become affordable for everyone in the State. He said that he scheme would benefit about 2.26 crore people in the State. He said Rs 2-a-kilo scheme was launched after the Congress party came to power in 2004 and the scheme has been further extended to reduce the burden from the common man, especially the poor people.
Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the government has taken sufficient measures to ensure that the rice scheme continues in future. He said all 44,000 dealers in the State have been asked to ensure that they provide rice at Rs 1 per kg without any problems. He said soon the government would launch a toll free number to receive complaints, if any, about improper implementation of the scheme. He directed the Civil Supplies Commissioner to take measures in this regard.
Further, the Chief Minister said that the government would fulfil its commitment of providing jobs to 15 lakh youth in the State in the next three years. He said that 1.16 lakh youth would be recruited and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh himself would disburse the appointment letters in December. He said Rajiv Yuvakiranulu scheme would be as successful and beneficial as Rajiv Arogyasri.
The Chief Minister said that the government was launching the second phase of Rachabanda scheme from Wednesday onwards. He said as many as 24 lakh cards would be distributed during the schemes. He said these applications were received during the first phase of Rachabanda and they include about 1.68 lakh applications from Hyderabad district.
Kiran Kumar Reddy also tried to impress the local audience by speaking a few sentences in Urdu language. However, he confined the subject to rice scheme and said that the scheme would also benefit thousands of poor Muslims. When the audience including the ministers burst into laughter after hearing his broken Urdu, he apoligised by saying, “Maaf karna…main abhi abhi seek raha hoon” (Please apologise…I’m still learning (Urdu)”. While using the word ‘Insha Allah’ twice, he concluded his speech with “Khuda Hafiz”.
PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, ministers including Sreedhar Babu, J Geetha Reddy, N Raghuvvera Reddy, P Satyanarayana, M Mukesh Goud and Danam Nagender, Secunderabad MP Anjan Kumar Yadav and GHMC Mayor Banda Karthi Chandra Reddy were present on the occasion.
——Agencies