Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has regretted that it was unjustifiable on the part of the Central Government to intervene in the functions of the State.
He made the observation in the context of the Centre not taking State governments into confidence in release of funds to villages. “The Centre had exposed its cheap tactics right from the rule of Rajiv Gandhi to the present regime in releasing funds directly to villages without trusting State governments,” he said while addressing a meeting of Ministers, Collectors, Zilla Parishad chairpersons, senior officials, Mayors, municipal chairpersons and municipal commissioners to discuss the Palle and Pattana Pragathi programmes of the government, which were initially scheduled from May 20 but postponed to June 3 at Wednesday’s meeting.
“The Centre’s stand to run Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Prime Minister’s Sadak Yojana and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from Delhi was not acceptable as only State governments were privy to local issues. It was not right for the Centre even to send daily wages of MNREGS workers from Delhi. The Centre was oblivious to basic issues of people like drinking water, power, health and education, but tinkered with States’ responsibilities,” he added.
He also said that development taking place in Telangana was a painstaking effort in the aftermath of ‘ruining’ of the State by earlier regimes. The government was toiling hard to reconstruct the systems that were victims of the destruction in the past.
Mr. Rao, who discussed a wide range of issues, said that a core area of focus for the State government would be strengthening the public health system. The government was constructing six multi-super speciality hospitals with a bed strength of 10,000. The tallest of them with 24 stories and housing 38 departments was coming up in Warangal. The hospitals in Hyderabad at Alwal, Sanathnagar, Gaddiannaram and Gachibowli will have 2,000 beds.
There will be 57,000 oxygen beds in hospitals of government and private sectors. About 550 tonnes of oxygen per day would be generated in the State.
Telangana was the first State to introduce to the outside world green fund concept by building a corpus with contributions ranging from ₹100 to ₹500 per month collected from elected representatives and officials. Green fund was also collected during admissions to educational institutions and registration of vehicles. Ten per cent of gram panchayat funds was compulsorily earmarked for green belt improvement.
He asked Collectors to arrange water to cremation grounds in villages from Mission Bhagiratha programme in 10 days. Urban parks should be constructed in the State taking the park in Mahabubnagar constructed over 2,098 acres as model. The status on open defecation free villages must be secured in a fortnight. The government will buy even rain soaked paddy in the ongoing procurement in villages, he added.
