NAVIPET (NIZAMABAD DIST.): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Utham Kumar Reddy has said that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government headed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has become dictatorial and is throttling the voice of Opposition parties in the Assembly and Council when urged on one-time farm loan waiver. The TRS, which had come to power creating tonnes of hopes and making lots promises to farmers, neglected them after assuming power, throwing them in dire straits, he charged while addressing a public meeting here on Sunday.
Congress leaders in large numbers addressed the meeting which was arranged as part of the Rythu Barosa Yatra and Project Baata of the party. Coming down heavily on the TRS government, Mr. Reddy said, “when the government can present a whopping Rs. 1 lakh crore budget, what is stopping it from writing off Rs.8,000 crore debt of farmers?”
He warned against the change of design of the Pranahitha-Chevella project on which Rs.9,000 crore has already been spent.
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\Congress Legislature Party leader in Assembly K. Jana Reddy said that the Chief Minister, with his statements, had created a lot of confusion on the future of the project, which, if completed in the original form, could be a lifeline for seven Telangana districts.
AICC national secretary Ramchandra Kuntia said that the TRS dispensation had no option but to take the decision of paying an ex gratia of Rs.6 lakh to bereaved farmer families after Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra.
Party working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that with the government’s inordinate delay in writing off farm loans, farmers were forced to end life. He alleged that the redesigning of the project was being brought forward for kickbacks and commissions. MLAs J. Geetha Reddy and T. Jeevan Reddy demanded immediate payment of Rs.27-crore arrears to sugarcane farmers.
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Former Minister D. Sreedhar Babu termed the TRS rule anti-farmer. Party MLAs T. Ram Mohan Reddy and Sampath Kumar said that a single family was running the State. Former Irrigation Minister P. Sudarshan Reddy said the Pranahitha-Chevella project was being neglected after the completion of 50 per cent works in the district. With an additional Rs.1,000 crore, the three package works could be finished to provide water to 3.05 lakh acres, he said.
Former Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy, former MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi, former MLA E. Anil, MLC Akula Lalitha, Mahesh Kumar Goud and DCC president Taher Bin Hamdan spoke on the occasion.
Redesigning of Pranahitha-Chevella project is being done for kickbacks and commissions
Mallu Batti Vikramarka
Congress working president