Peak summer, but no power cuts in state

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.