Why tax the public

Warangal: Former chief whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy alleged that Assembly Speaker S Madhusudana Chary’s second anniversary as Speaker was celebrated at the expense of local businessmen and traders.

The traders and businessmen at Bhupalpally were compelled to offer funds for organising celebrations and were forced to display flexi boards commemorating the occasion.

It was good to celebrate the event but the Speaker should have done it with his own expenses, the Congress leader said.

Speaking to press persons in Hanamkonda on Saturday, Ramana Reddy said ‘It is not a good practice to tax the public and why such an extravaganza for just completing two years in the office by Madhusudhana Chary’.

Sitting in an important position like speaker, he failed to focus on development of the district as a whole. The Speaker was maintaining silence on the reported shifting of 800 MW KTPP third phase project sanctioned during Congress regime at Bhupalpally to Nalgonda. Kaloji Health University was facing funds crunch and there was no proper infrastructure in place, he stated.

During 2014 election campaign, TRS leadership said there would be no more open cast (OC) mines at Bhupalpally but proposals were being readied to launch few more OCs. Several developmental works started by previous Congress government were being neglected, he added.

Several works were launched by ministers and speaker on Friday in Bhupalpally constituency but works for construction of double bedroom houses launched nowhere in the constituency, Ramana Reddy complained.

He noted not a single rupee was spent on Devadula irrigation project during the last years and the government shelved Kanthanapally irrigation project. Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao should give an explanation to the people in the district, he demanded.
District Congress president N Rajender Reddy, city Congress president R Srihari and others were present.