Deputy Chief Minister Mahamood Ali today slammed a section of media for carrying out a story related to Telangana backwardness during Nizam rule. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday evening, Mahamood Ali refuted the reports as baseless. Ali said that all the content in the report prepared by a team of ICRISAT consultants was not all correct. Though Telangana Government forwarded the report to the World Bank, had suffered dearth of the officials at its beginning could not go through the content, he said. The report is meant for seeking funds from World Bank with some data related to Andhra Pradesh formation, he stated. When scribes insisted, he said that the government sought World Bank funds to take up more development works to in Telangana despite being a surplus state.
He found fault with the report for stating that “Arguably Telangana’s development was held back by the long overhang of feudalism (the Nizam of Hyderabad), which meant that both coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were more socially advanced in comparison, at the time of independence. Though there was backwardness in a couple of districts during the Nizam rule, it cannot be attributed to entire region, he said. It was during Seemandra Rule, few pockets in Telangana region did not witness development he alleged. We will take action on the consultants for such reports, Ali stated. Certainly, the TRS Government will act on such reports, he added. (NSS)