HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced a slew of sops to woo the electorate even as the Assembly elections inch closer, key among the promises being waiver of crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh per farmer, Rs 3,016 monthly allowance for the unemployed, doubling of Asara pension and hiking the sum promised as crop investment under Rythu Bandhu from Rs 8,000 per acre for two seasons to Rs 10,000.
Rao, who chose to disclose the assurances himself at a press conference shortly after the party’s manifesto committee meeting, said the crop loan waiver would be cleared in two instalments at most.
Dismissing the Opposition’s queries on how the TRS planned to raise money for all the schemes, the pink party leader said: “We have economic wisdom. The revenue to be generated by the State in the next five years has been calculated.... [it is only after assessments] that we are making assurances. The TRS has nothing to do with the promises made by other political parties.”
He explained that the State is expected to generate Rs 10.3 lakh crore in the next five years, of which the charged account amount, a compulsory expenditure like debt service and others would be Rs 2.30 lakh crore.
“If we repay Rs 2.30 lakh crore, the State will be eligible to get another Rs 1.3 lakh crore in new loans,” Rao said and asserted that the TRS was making promises based purely on the projected revenue of the State. Rao said the TRS government is committed to further hiking the wages of anganwadi staffers, Asara workers and home guards among others.
Taking a cue from the Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi too promised housing for poor. Those who can contribute partially to the 2BHK programme will also be considered for the scheme later, Rao promised.
Schemes for SC and ST communities with budgets of up to Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore respectively are also on the cards for the next five years if the TRS wrests power. “The Telangana Rashtra Samithi government has launched a scheme for shepherds. A self-employment scheme for SCs and STs will also be introduced,” Rao said and added that it was his dream to ensure water for irrigation across one crore acres of agricultural land in the State by 2021.
A Rao said his government was sure that all pending irrigation projects in the State would be completed soon and the water woes of its farmers would be solved without delay.
