Hyderabad: Telangana may see the institution of a Best MLA/MLC award on the lines of the Best Parliamentarian award, and this idea will be discussed further, it was announced on Wednesday. Responding to a suggestion that came up during the inaugural session of the two-day orientation programme for MLAs and MLCs at the MCR HRD Institute, legislative affairs minister D. Sridhar Babu and Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar said this suggestion would be discussed, hinting that such an award may soon become a reality.
Question power
Increased compensation for human deaths in conflicts with wildlife was a result of a single question asked in the Rajya Sabha, according to Dr Banda Prakash, Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council. Narrating the importance of asking questions in the House by MLAs and MLCs, and MPs, Dr Prakash said he asked a question in the Rajya Sabha where he was a member about the meagre Rs 2 lakh or Rs 2.5 lakh that was being given at that time for loss of human lives in wildlife conflicts. This resulted in increasing the compensation by the government to Rs 10 lakh, a decision was also implemented in Telangana as soon as Congress came to power, he said.
Tummala on fire
Senior MLA and agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao made his presence felt as soon as he entered the orientation programme venue. “Where are all the Khammam MLAs? Why are they not here yet?” he asked a couple of his Assembly colleagues who had reached a venue a little bit before he did. Clearly unhappy at all MLAs from the district not at the venue, Tummala asked the Legislature Secretary to note the time each MLA or MLC arrives for the programme to check how late they arrived.
Standing Committees coming?
Will Telangana soon have Standing Committees in the Legislature? This could well be if one goes by legislative affairs minister D. Sridhar Babu saying this matter will be a subject of discussion in the government and guidance will be taken from Chief Minister, Assembly Speaker and Legislative Council chairman on this issue. Such committees play a significant role, doing a lot of work in shaping policy and legislations. It is time we think about having them, just as they have in the Parliament, he said.
One good Q can save lives: Uttam
It was a question from the now minister in Telangana and then Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy that forced the Central government to agree that Covid cannot be cured through natural means. Narrating his experience on this issue, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government did not have a reply to his question on whether the Centre could provide any scientific evidence to support its claim on natural Covid cure methods, but later clarified that Covid cannot be cured in the matter it first said the disease could be, and that the information it first put out was not verified.
Dangerous 'security tax'
Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy advised all legislators to pick up their own phones when calls come, call back people whose calls they could not receive if busy otherwise. People rely on us to solve their problems, he said, and cautioned MLAs and MLCs to be aware of ‘security tax’. Indicating that this was likely one of the reasons for his loss in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Sukhender Reddy said security guards usually end up collecting tips from visitors and word of this gets around. At that time because of the pressing Naxal issue, there were more security guards and eventually the ‘security tax’ added to the reasons for the loss in elections, he said.
