Eatala dares Opposition for open debate

Hyderabad: Finance Minister Eatala Rajender challenged the Opposition for an open debate on the issue of welfare of Dalits in the State.

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, ,Etela said, `Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government is ready for a debate on the steps taken by the government for Scheduled Caste (SC) welfare and also the measures proposed to be implemented in future. He strongly condemned the Congress for calling TRS government as anti-Dalits.

Etela accused the Opposition of politicising the Manakondur incident wherein two Dalit youths attempted suicide citing State government's failure to provide promised three acres of land. He said the government had distributed 650 acres of land among Dalit families in Ellantakunta mandal of Manakondur. He said 60 acres of land in Gudem village had been procured for distribution and in the first phase 38 families would be given the land.

The Minister said the youth were incited to attempt suicide and it was not against the State government or TRS. He said the local VRO, who allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 to allocate land, had been suspended and the Siddipet Collector had been assigned the task to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident. Eatala claimed that no other government in the country had taken up welfare schemes for Dalits like TRS had.