KCR announces sops ahead of GHMC polls, Opposition cries foul

 Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has announced a mind-boggling number of schemes and sops in a bid to shore up the government’s image ahead of the Hyderabad municipal elections.

 Rao is in a hurry to announce the welfare schemes as the Election Commission is expected to issue the notification for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls in a day or two.

 With this in mind, the Cabinet on Saturday met for 11 hours and announced a slew of schemes.

 The Opposition however, has flayed the government for what it describes as opportunism. Congress leader and former MP Ponnam Prabhakar said, “KCR government only works before the elections and if his intentions are really true, then why is he only focusing on Hyderabad? Why he is not concentrating on other districts?”

 He added, “Earlier when he was campaigning for MP post, he used to claim that he will make slippers with his skin which proves that all his promises are fake. His promises are not just fake, they are unbelievable too.  Otherwise, who promises to make slippers with his own skin? He is just doing all this to win the GHMC elections.”

 BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao too echoed these views. “KCR is misusing his position as CM of Telangana in the run-up to the GHMC elections. The misuse of government machinery for his party's electoral  outcomes is unprecedented. He is blatantly and openly wiping the fine line between governance and politics.”

 Here are some of the schemes for Hyderabad as well as for the state that the government has announced, according to an IANS report: 

 Waiver of water dues: the state government has waived off water dues which have been pending since 1989. Even drinking water dues to the tune of about Rs 300 crore will be waived off.

 Reduction in property tax: Tax will be reduced for over three lakh families. Households which were paying tax of Rs 1,500 per annum will now pay Rs 101.

 Two dedicated reservoirs will be constructed to meet drinking water needs of Hyderabad.

 A medical college is to be set up in Mahabubnagar district.

 Regularization of all contract employees by January-end.

 Payment of pollution allowance to traffic policemen.

 Hike in wages of outsourced employees.

 Education: The cabinet also approved filling vacancies of 15,628 teachers. It has been decided that they will also start 60 residential schools for minorities including 30 for girls, which will be active from the coming academic  year. 

Minority welfare department: 70 posts sanctioned for the department. 

Subsidy for the two-room housing scheme of the GHMC for the poor has been raised from Rs 5.3 lakh to Rs.7 lakh. In multi-story buildings, lifts would also be installed under the scheme.

 Development cards would be prepared for all districts, setting department-wise goals for each district. Rao claimed the exercise was the first of its kind in the country and would help in ensuring transparency and effective implementation of various plans.

 As part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, GHMC has begun distributing two dustbins to households in the city to promote the use of two separate bins for dry waste and wet waste.

Image by Arrangement

Harsha Sai, a 22-year-old student from Hyderabad whose house was provided with dustbins told The News Minute, “It is a good act I feel. Even if this happened before elections, I am happy that it happened. This concept is adopted by many cities. Now it's Hyderabad's turn.”