Govt suppressing questioning voices, says Harish Rao

Siddipet: Former minister T Harish Rao on Monday strongly criticised the Congress government, saying it is suppressing questioning voices has become its mode of governance. He said if employees demand PRC, ACB raids are conducted; if students demand pending fee reimbursements, vigilance raids are carried out on colleges; and if the Opposition parties question the government, SIT notices are issued—thus “murdering democracy” in the State.

Speaking as the chief guest at the Best Employees Felicitation Programme organised at the TNGO building here on the Republic Day, he said it was a matter of pride that Siddipet has its own NGO building. He expressed happiness that for the past 22 years, the tradition of honouring the best employees and students, who achieved outstanding results in Class 10 on occasions like Republic Day and Teachers’ Day, has been continuing. He said honouring good employees and teachers is equivalent to honouring society itself.

Rao said two years and two months have passed since the Congress came to power and that people now understand what real governance means. People are recalling that KCR’s rule was better. He reminded that the KCR government respected employees by granting PRC of 42% once and 30% another time, totalling 72%. But today, he said, even leaders of employee unions are unable to ask about PRC, and if they do, the government is intimidating them.

The local MLA alleged that in two years, the government called tenders and awarded contracts worth `95,000 crore and paid bills to big contractors for commissions of about `30,000 crore. Not paying dues to employees is not because of lack of funds, but because of lack of intent.

He said it was ridiculous for a government that is spending `1 lakh crore on Musi river beautification, `1 lakh crore on Future City, `15,000 crore on HAM roads, `8,000 crore on Godavari water diversion, and `20,000 crore on integrated schools to claim that it has no money when it comes to employees. Five DA instalments, PRC and GPF amounts are pending. Even after a year, dues to retired employees have not been paid. He recalled that during the BRS regime, when 18,000 employees retired, all benefits were paid within one or two months.

The former minster said under Revanth Reddy government, the State’s real estate market has collapsed; there are no buyers even when people want to sell plots out of necessity. He criticised that while KCR increased the State’s prestige and income, the government is pushing a prosperous State into darkness.