Revanth to launch govt’s 1st anniversary fete

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will begin the 26-day-long celebrations to mark the first anniversary of the Congress government on Thursday with a public meeting of welfare hostel students at LB Stadium. Around 14,000 students from across the state will attend the event.

The first-day event in the 26-day celebration on Thursday, which coincides with Children’s Day, will celebrate the recent enhancement of diet charges and cosmetic charges for students in welfare hostels by the Congress government.

The charges were hiked for students residing in hostels managed by SC, ST, BC and Minority welfare departments after a gap of seven years after the previous BRS government failed to revise them for seven long years.

There was a long-pending demand from BC, SC, ST and Minority organisations to enhance these charges as the prices of essential commodities have significantly increased since 2017 and they were no way sufficient to meet the needs of students.

This impacted the quality of food in hostels with contractors compromising on quality arguing that the rates were unviable for them to offer quality food. The Revanth Reddy government has decided to increase these charges significantly by 40 per cent with effect from November 1 keeping in view rising inflation in the last seven years.

With November 14, coinciding with Children's Day, which is the birth anniversary of first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress government has decided to launch its first anniversary celebrations involving students on this day.

Revanth Reddy will address the students at LB Stadium which will be attended by his cabinet ministers, Congress MLAs, MLCs, MPs, party leaders and activists.

The 26-day celebrations will highlight the achievements of the Congress government in its first year. The celebrations will conclude on the birthday of senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi as well as the anniversary of the UPA government’s first announcement regarding statehood for Telangana on December 9, 2009.

These celebrations will span cultural programmes, public awareness drives and government initiatives. The grand finale on December 9 will see performances by thousands of cultural artists, laser shows and fireworks displays at Hussainsagar.

The Congress government would use the 26-day celebrations to showcase its swift progress and the successes of its ambitious policies, particularly its Six Guarantees.