IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao raised some eyebrows on Thursday when he took potshots at the bureaucrats and their style of functioning. The Minister said even if the intention of a politician is right in doing something, bureaucracy delays the process.
Mr. Rao was speaking to the media after laying foundation stone for the construction of Sparsh Hospice centre at Nanakramguda.
Appreciating the board of trustees of Hospice for being persuasive for allocation of land, Mr. Rama Rao said even if he wanted to speed up the process related to any project, bureaucrats would hinder it. He went to the extent of saying that the civil servants treated politicians like guests as they believe that they call the shots till retirement whereas public representatives remain in power for only five years. Mr. Rao said public representatives like him would love to hear words of appreciation from general public for keeping up their promises, but some work do not happen quickly even after a Minister issues instructions. On a lighter note, he said the treatment was all the more different from bureaucrats if they feel that the party in power would not come back.
The 50-bed palliative care centre would come up on one acre of land leased out by the government for 33 years at ₹1 per sq. yard per annum.
Pranathi Reddy, president of Rotary Club at Banajara Hills, informed that the new centre would be an eco-friendly facility as not a single tree would be cut during the construction.
Vara Prasad Reddy, founder and chairman of Shantha Biotechnics, donated ₹One crore and Prabhakar Rao and Kusuma Kumari donated ₹25 lakh for the construction of the building and Ramesh Babu, chairman of Rainbow Hospitals, donated ₹30 crore towards buying medical equipment.
The new facility would come up at a cost of ₹7 crore, which would be raised through donations.
Mr. Vara Prasad Reddy, who is also a governing board member of Sparsh Hospice, sought the government intervention in easing out the stringent rules laid down in usage of narcotic drugs in cancer pain management. On Thursday, the trustees of Sparsh Hospice appealed to all the philanthropists to come forward and donate to run Sparsh Hospice as well as for the construction of 50-bed new centre.
Donations can be made by paying online at www.sparshhospice.org . The bank account details for making donations is Yes Bank, account name: Sparsh Hospice; account no: 025094600000400; IFSC code: YESB0000250.
