Telangana aims to cover 2 lakh Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries

Hyderabad: Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao on Friday said that the TRS government was planning to extend the prestigious Dalit Bandhu scheme to other sections.

Addressing a meeting here after disbursing some selected units to the beneficiaries under the Dalit Bandhu scheme, Harish Rao said Dalit Bandhu was not only a scheme, but a social movement. Stating that over Rs 17,800 crore has been earmarked for the Dalit Bandhu scheme in the budget, Haish said that the State government was planning to cover over 2 lakh beneficiaries across the State by the end of the financial year.

Accusing the BJP government at the Centre of the hike in fuel prices after completion of elections in five States, Harish Rao said the BJP government was deceiving the people and burdening the poor and middle class sections. "It has become a habit to the Centre to decrease the fuel prices on the eve of elections and increase the same after the elections", he criticised.

Pointing out that while power holiday for industries was still continuing in Gujarat, the Telangana State was providing uninterrupted power supply to industries, Harish Rao said, adding that the State government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has made a phenomenal progress in power generation and is now able to provide uninterrupted power supply to all the sectors.

"At the time of State formation, power generation in the State was only 7,778 Mega Watt. Now, its generation has reached 17,305 MW. Another 1600 MW is going to be added in the next six months. It's an unprecedented growth in power sector and it is an achievement of the KCR government," Harish Rao asserted. Despite the country having abundant power generation, many States are still facing shortage of power supply. It is a complete failure of the Modi government, which failed to set up a proper power distribution system connecting one State to another across the country, he added. The Finance Minister also said the Telangana was the only State in the country to give 24-hour free power supply to the agriculture sector.