HYDERABAD: Refuting the allegations being made by TRS that the Centre was discriminatory against Telangana, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy said that it was TRS government that was showing discrimination against Hyderabad, which contributes 80 per cent to the State’s revenue.
Addressing the media at BJP party office in Hyderabad after holding a meeting with BJP Corporators on Saturday, he asked why the State government was not spending enough to provide basic facilities to the people of Hyderabad. People were dying after drinking contaminated water, he said.
He further alleged that the State government was showing discrimination against students from SC communities by obstructing the Centre’s move to directly deposit scholarship amount in their bank accounts. “As many as 10 lakh SC students across the country have received the scholarships, but none in Telangana,” he said.
Questioning why the State government was indecisive over extending the Metro rail services to old city beyond Afzal Gunj, he said that there was no response from the State government on establishing a tribal museum, science city or MMTS phase-2 works, for which the State government was supposed to release its share of funds.
On IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao complaining about the Centre establishing Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Gujarat, he said that the Centre had written to all states, asking them to submit what facilities they had. “There is a state-of-the-art Ayurvedic university already established in Jamnagar of Gujarat. Their government was proactive in applying to the World Health Organisation. What were you doing,” he asked Rama Rao. He further said that though the Centre had sanctioned 7 textile parks across the country, and that he had personally written to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to use this opportunity to establish the same in Telangana. There was no response to that either.
In response to Finance Minister Harish Rao’s claims of discrimination, Reddy has reminded him that it was the Centre which has funded Basti Dawakhanas, also mentioning that it was the Centre which had given free rice to the poor people (including Telangana beneficiaries) across the country by spending Rs 3,60,000 crore.
He has demanded that the TRS leadership to debate over the contribution of Centre in providing rice for `1 per kg and construction of national highways. He said that Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari would be coming to Hyderabad on April 29 to lay foundation for road works to the tune of `10,000 crore.
Welcoming the State government announcing it’s intent to compensate farmers from Punjab who were martyred in the movement against the controversial agricultural laws, he demanded that all the families of Telangana martyrs must also be compensated in a similar way.