TS government’s ‘bait’ to shift AP High Court

Offers to pay rent for private buildings for court in Vijayawada or Guntur

June 26, 2017 12:53 am | Updated 08:04 am IST

A view of the Hyderabad High Court.

A view of the Hyderabad High Court.

The Telangana government has made frantic efforts for the shifting of Andhra Pradesh High Court to that State, but to no avail in the past three years. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao recently expressed helplessness that the bifurcation of the State was not complete without bifurcation of the High Court. Having exhausted all options, the State government came up with a proposal to pay a portion of the rent if the AP government hired private buildings to house the court either in Vijayawada or Guntur. As all matters pertaining to division are in 52:48 ratio as per State reorganisation law, the government offered to foot the bill for its 42 per cent share. The offer was made at a time when the Telangana government was pressing AP to vacate its accommodation in the Secretariat here to pave way for new constructions.

Road safety campaign

There is more than one way to celebrate a happy occasion. Industrialist Gangadhar of Jagtial thought of others’ safety when it came to sharing happiness. He distributed 500 helmets to two-wheeler riders in a party organised for his son’s marital engagement ceremony. The riders who attended the function hailed Mr. Gangadhar for having turned a private function to a road safety campaign. Though the industrialist decided on distributing helmets as part of his Corporate Social Responsibility exercise, he had also managed to comply by a High Court ruling which made helmet compulsory for two-wheeler users.

A considerate return gift? Only if all who attended the function really wore them before hitting the road. The businessman’s action could, however, be considered a drop in the ocean.

Pleasing all communities

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti appears to have focussed on consolidating its presence at the grassroots level going by the spree of sops being announced to different sections. The Government has enacted a legislation enhancing reservations to Muslims and the Scheduled Tribes and announced its resolve to secure the Centre’s nod for it, in a bid to win over the confidence of a significant chunk of these sections. Then followed the prestigious sheep distribution programme for Yadavs, Kurumas and other communities that constituted sizeable population in the State.

The focus is now on the washermen and Nai Brahmin communities, what with Finance Minister Eatala Rajender announcing tentative schedule for showering benefits on these sections in the form of the tools they use and more are likely to follow. But whether these doles play any part in mobilising public support in favour of the ruling party will only be known at the time of the elections, till when the government’s actions will be under close scrutiny by the beneficiaries as well as those anticipating some goodies.

Sound education

Among the many non-starters of the TRS government’s much-talked-about welfare schemes, it is beyond doubt that the ‘KG to PG’ programme has drawn a lot of attention considering the emotion and sentiment attached to education. However, three years down the line, this path-breaking scheme has not seen any structured, forward movement. People sauntering in the corridors of power are now talking about leveraging the strengths of the social welfare residential schools that offer education from Class V to XII. Then what about kindergarten and classes I, II, III and IV ? Government is toying with the idea of non-residential ‘pay’ schools using the services of trained teachers on contract to help lay a solid educational foundation for the children when they get into Class V in residential schools! Interestingly, they will be served food of residential schools for optimal use of funds released for these institutions. It was found that the money was underused due to shortage of students.

N. Rahul, Nikhil Henry, M. Rajeev and Suresh Krishnamoorthy

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