Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced a subsidy for Christians in the state to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, akin to the Haj pilgrimage.
He made announcement during the official Christmas celebrations held at Nizam Grounds on Friday.
Addressing the gathering KCR said, “There is a need for a budget for Jerusalem pilgrimage. We will make sure that it is introduced,” The Hindu reported.
He also announced that the government would allocate Rs 10 crore from the budget for repairs of old churches and construction of new churches.
“We are all one and Telangana will take care of everyone,” the Chief Minister said, Telangana Today reported.
Further, he said that the attacks on churches have come down ever since Telangana attained statehood.
The Hindu quoted him as saying, “If anything happens anywhere against any Christian or any Christian institute in the State, it will be ruthlessly curbed.”
Admitting that the state government’s project of constructing Christian Bhavan was delayed, he said that the project will be completed by next Christmas.
Two days ago, the High Court stayed the construction of the Bhavan in Yapral, Secunderabad after a petition was filed by M Gangavathi and two others, accusing the government of acquiring their land illegally for the purpose of construction.
Talking about the Kaleshwaram irrigation project, he said that the project has obtained all the clearances from the Centre and assured that it will be completed on time, which will help realise the dream of achieving ‘Bangaru Telangana’ (golden Telangana).
The project was recently stalled by the Centre for not obtaining environmental clearance. However, it gave the clearance on December 18 and directed the state to take care of changes in the micro-climatic conditions at the project site during and post the construction period, as the project involved submergence of a large area.