Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has envisaged a significant role for artistes, better than that of Ministers, in transforming the State into ‘Bangaru Telangana’ by creating awareness among people about government schemes.
He announced health cards for all the 530 artistes employed in Samskruthika Saradhi, providing health security to them and their family members. “Providing employment opportunity to artistes, who played a vital role in galvanising masses to take part in the separate statehood movement is a small reward by the government compared to their contribution,” the Chief Minister said speaking at a meeting of artistes here on Sunday.
He spent over three hours there and had community lunch with the artistes at the training programme organised by Samskruthika Saradhi for propagating government programme like Mission Kakatiya. “You (artistes) have a difficult task of changing the mindset of people to work for rebuilding Telangana with your cultural programmes,” he told them. He told the cultural ambassadors to utilise the services of their fellow artistes by forming artistes’ groups to publicise government programmes at field level and directed Principal Secretary (Culture) B.P. Acharya to prepare guidelines on the remuneration to be paid to such artistes. Recollecting the role of artistes in the struggle for separate statehood, he said: “Some leaders backed-out midway, some were bought over by adversaries of Telangana and some more withdrew out of fear, but it was artistes who accompanied the movement all through.” Mr. Rao said the artistes could play the role of catalysts of change by explaining the significance of all programmes for comprehensive development of Telangana.