HYDERABAD: Stating that it was not just the number and the way welfare programmes were launched by the “people’s government” that differentiated it from the previous regime, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that the major contrast between the Congress and BRS regimes has been accessibility.
“We, helming the people’s government, are accessible to the people at all times. We are engaging with the public and addressing their concerns, be it through Prajavani or through “face-to-face” like this one,” he said during the programme hosted at the Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday.
Vikramarka stated that he, along with other ministers, participated in the initiative to understand the views of the electorate and address their grievances. “When in power, BRS leadership operated from palatial houses, detached from the public. In contrast, we are actively working amidst the people,” he said.
The Deputy CM listed various measures taken to prioritise education and health. “We are establishing Young India Integrated Residential Schools to offer quality education to underprivileged students. We increased diet and mess charges for hostel inmates by 40% which the previous regime failed to do for a decade,” Vikarmarka stated.
He also listed the other welfare schemes implemented by the Congress government like free electricity up to 200 units, subsidised LPG cylinders at Rs 500, free bus travel for women on RTC buses, and the construction of Indiramma houses at Rs5 lakh each.
Reiterating the Congress government’s commitment to generate employment, Vikramarka recalled that 50,000 government posts were filled within a year.
The deputy CM also spoke about plans to provide Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore in annual interest-free loans to women to foster entrepreneurship. The government plans to distribute Rs 1 lakh crore in loans over five years, he said. He added that this was in addition to woman-friendly schemes like handing over solar plants to Self-Help Groups to generate 1,000 MW and handing over RTC buses to these groups for giving them on lease.
He described the ongoing caste census as a historic step toward addressing social inequalities and said that those obstructing it were “looters” engaged in false propaganda.