Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan has targeted corruption in public domain, particularly politial corruption, as the root cause of poverty and backwardness. At the 66th Republic Day celebrations at Parade Grounds here on Monday, he said the Telangana Government had rolled out a transparent strategy to create a corruption-free society.
The strategy was also to augment welfare of poor and usher in balanced development in all spheres of economy, Mr. Narasimhan said after unfurling the tricolour. These words of Mr. Narasimhan in his opening remarks of the address assumed significance in the backdrop of the dismissal of Deputy Chief Minister and Medical and Health Minister T. Rajaiah in the face of corruption charges.
He said that the Government desired to fulfill all the election promises and stay fully committed to achieve them, notwithstanding the manifold challenges in their implementation. The Government was set to pursue several initiatives and ambitious programmes to realise the goal of golden Telangana.
Reading out the proposed Government programmes from a 16-page text, Mr. Narasimhan said that it was envisaged to reverse the trend of slump in the State's economic growth two years ago with massive infusion of investments in agriculture, industry and infrastructure sectors in order to provide food security, employment opportunities and trigger revenue buoyancy.
The Government wanted to develop express highways in all four directions of the State capital. The idea was to strengthen the outer ring road of Hyderabad to meet the demands for the next five decades. The ever-growing demand for power was proposed to be met with both long and short-term measures.
Besides drawing up a master plan for generating 20,000 MW of power in the next three years, the State power generating corporation (TSGENCO) had enhanced its performance with a 13 per cent excess generation this season, he said.
Referring to steps in Gajwel Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the Governor said that it was planned to construct reservoirs at Pamulaparthy and Tadakapally with a storage capacity of 30 tmc ft and 21 tmc ft respectively for meeting the drinking water needs under Pranahita - Chevella project.
The Government will also set up Kanthanapally Sujala Sravanthi project aimed at addressing the drinking water problems of Warangal District. About 7.5 lakh acres of agricultural land would be irrigated under Sriramsagar Project - Stages I and II at a cost of Rs. 11,773 crore. In the process, the tail-end areas of SRSP - Stage I would also be brought under cultivation.
Mr. Narasimhan added that the Government undertook a programme for cultural renaissance of the State by according recognition to all its festivals, customs, heritage, literature, poetry, art and traditions. It was committed to overhauling and strengthening the public education system from kinder garten to post-graduation in a phased and systematic manner.
