Hyderabad: The
Telangana government will complete one year in office on June 2. Its
major achievements over the past one year have been — no power cuts in
the state even during peak summer, waiver of Rs 18,000-crore crop loans;
enhancing ration quota and social security pensions for poor, supplying
quality rice to lakhs of poor students in government schools and
welfare hostels, and providing financial assistance of Rs 51,000 to poor
minority, SC and ST families for girls’ weddings.
The government
also hoisted the national flag on Golconda Fort on Independence Day,
which was neglected in undivided Andhra Pradesh. It also created a
record of sorts by conducting the Intensive Household Survey across the
state on a single day, in August last year, to assess the social and
economic status of each household in the state.
Meanwhile, failure
to issue a single job notification for students in the last year
remains the biggest drawback for the government. While the two-bedroom
housing scheme for the poor has just started in the city, the ambitious
KG-to-PG free education scheme is still in the planning stage. The other
notable achievements were the three-acre land for landless Dalit
families scheme on August 15 last year and introducing the scheme to
regularise 125 sq. yards of land free of cost for poor families, which
benefitted about 1 lakh poor families in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy
districts.
The highlight of the TRS government’s first year rule
is that a major chunk of the population was given food security. The
government raised the income limit of households eligible for food
security cards to Rs 1.5 lakh per annum in rural areas and Rs 2 lakh in
urban areas, against Rs 60,000 and Rs 75,000 respectively.
“We are
supplying 1.80 lakh metric tonne of rice to BPL families though the
Centre is giving only 1.12 lakh MT. Purchasing additional rice has been
imposing a financial burden, but it is giving us satisfaction that no
one has to sleep on an empty stomach,” said Etela Rajender, minister for
consumer affairs and finance.
Power minister G. Jagadish Reddy,
said, “During the statehood agitation, people used to ask us what we
would get if Telangana was formed. We can tell them that they have a
power-cut free state. Even Hyderabad used to have power cuts right from
winter. Now, even in summer, there are no power cuts . CM K.
Chandrasekhar Rao handled the task of ensuring uninterrupted power
supply from the day he assumed office. With his plans, Telangana will
become a power-surplus state in three years.