WARANGAL: In a bid to woo the Scheduled Tribes in to his party fold, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday promised various welfare schemes for the community. He announced that his government would upgrade all the tribal hamlets (Tandas) to gram panchayats. He also promised to introduce a Bill in this regard in the ensuing Assembly session to amend the current panchayati raj laws.
Addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone for the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park at Shayampet in Geesugonda mandal and Chintalapalli in Sangem mandal along with three other major projects, Rao said the upgradation would allow the State get more funds from the Centre to develop these hamlets.
Currently, there are 8,684 gram panchayats in the State and with the upgradation, Rao said, an additional 4000 to 5000 panchayats would be formed. “This will be discussed in Monday’s state cabinet itself and a Bill will be passed,’’ he said. The Chief Minister added that `3,000 crore would be specially allocated in the State budget for the development of these villages. “We would be allocating `10 lakh to `20 lakh for each village depending upon the population. We would see to it that these villages develop in all sectors,” he said.
Parkal to become revenue division
The CM announced that steps would be taken to make Parkal mandal a revenue division. “Parkal MLA Ch Dharma Reddy has been requesting this for long time. I had decided to accept it,” he said. He also sanctioned `50 crore for Parkal development. Also, Mamnoor airport, the largest pre-Independence era airport, built by the Nizams in 1930 would be made operational, he added.
Expressing concern over the delay in conducting gram panchayat polls, Rao said he said that he would take steps for early elections and would not delay it unlike other political parties. Promising to develop the mega textile park as the best park in the country, Rao said the facility would be a one stop shop. “We are expecting 27,000 direct and 50,000 indirect employment in the first phase of the project. The numbers would increase in the coming days,” he said.
Referring to those who have lost their land to the project, Rao said efforts would be made to ensure jobs for all eligible people. He hoped that those who migrated after the closure of Azam Jahi Mills in the region would return to work at the park.
“I promised weavers during Telangana movement that if voted to power, I would establish a huge textile park which would fill the gap created by the closure of Azam Jahi Mills. Today the dream has become true. I want all of them to return to the state and be part of development,” he said.
Stating that the state’s industrial policy was the best in the country, KCR said the government had granted permission to about 5,017 industries to set up units in the state attracting an investment of `1.07 lakh crore.