HYDERABAD: Advising people to exercise their franchise with caution, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday appealed to the people to elect good candidates in the panchayat elections for the development of villages.
At the event, Revanth said voters should choose candidates who work for village development rather than those who hinder it. He called for unity “cutting across parties” for the progress of the united Mahbubnagar district.
The chief minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones for several works in Makthal and later addressed a public meeting as part of the Praja Palana celebrations.
Asserting that his government’s target was a $1 trillion economy by 2034 and $3 trillion by 2047, he said that the aim was to attract investments through the Telangana Rising Global Summit.
Revanth said people in Mahbubnagar expected irrigation projects to be completed in 2014 but alleged that the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao “betrayed” them by failing to provide water. He said that although the previous regime spent `2 lakh crore on irrigation, key projects were left incomplete.
According to him, after the Congress returned to power, work on several schemes, including the Makthal–Narayanapet–Kodangal Lift Irrigation Project, resumed. The chief minister said rehabilitation compensation was raised for those who lost land, leading many farmers to part with their holdings voluntarily.
He told the crowd to “hold officials and contractors accountable” if the project was not finished within two years.
Revanth said Young India Integrated Residential Schools are being set up in all Assembly constituencies, including Makthal, to improve access to quality education for poorer families. Fourteen schools have been cleared for the undivided district.
He said schools were allocated even to constituencies where the Congress did not win, asserting that the current government is not following the discriminatory approach he attributed to the previous administration. An IIIT has also been approved for the district, he said.
The chief minister listed ongoing welfare measures such as free bus travel for women, superfine rice for low-income families, free power up to 200 units and support for SHGs. He said the government resolved the pending SC sub-categorisation issue. He said the state has completed a caste census to determine the BC population and claimed that crop loans worth `21,653 crore for 2.53 lakh farmers have been waived. He said `1.04 lakh crore has been spent on farmers’ welfare.