Hyderabad: Telangana turned two yesterday, and celebrated its anniversary with colour, pomp and style as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao assured people that his government was moving fast towards the goal of “Golden Telangana”.
Hoisting one of the country’s biggest national flags in Hyderabad and laying a foundation stone for the memorial of those who sacrificed their lives during the six-decade struggle for a separate state were highlights of the ceremony. Another was the announcement of 15 new districts and redrawing of the state’s map.
KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said during the first two years the government strove hard to solve it’s citizens’ problems and lay a strong foundation for a bright future.
After the ceremonial parade at the Secunderabad Parade Grounds, KCR unveiled plans for the coming years. Faster economic growth and increasing the state budget to Rs5 trillion (Dh272 billion) by 2024, irrigating 10 million acres by 2022 and 100 per cent literacy in the near future were some of his important targets.
“Telangana movement was a fire born out of water,” KCR said quoting the famous Telangana ideologue Prof Jayashankar, emphasising that millions of people of the region struggled for water and other natural and financial resources for decades.
Paying emotional tributes to the people who laid down their lives for Telanga, he said that state’s citizens were indebted to them. “We have already given appointment letters of government jobs to the families of 598 martyrs,” he said.
‘New rule is better’
In an attack on the decades-long governments of united Andhra Pradesh, dominated by Andhra people, KCR said, “In the united Andhra Pradesh we had to beg for every single rupee, but now we are utilising our own resources on our own development”.
Expressing his satisfaction over the pace of development and progress over the past two years, KCR said that his government was working hard to fulfil the dreams of the people.
KCR said that “in a few years we will become a 100 per cent literate state”. The state government has started 250 residential schools for scheduled castes, tribes and minorities.
He said his dream was that no woman should walk on the roads looking for drinking water. “By the end of 2018, 100 per cent [of the] villages of the state will get safe drinking water through the Mission Bhagirath”, he said.
He also criticised neighbouring Andhra Pradesh over river water, saying for decades Andhra rulers had diverted Telangana’s share of the water to Andhra. “Despite having rivers Krishna and Godavari and Kakatiya canal Telangana has suffered so much for water.
“Because of the neglect of the rulers of united Andhra Pradesh canals of Kakatiya era had dried up and destroyed but the Telangana government has now launched Mission Kakatiya to restore them,” he said.
In the morning, KCR paid floral tributes to the Telangana movement martyrs at the Gun Park memorial.
In the afternoon, at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, KCR presented awards to the prominent activists, artists, writers, journalists and other personalities.
Speaking on the occasion, he said the state has been steadily moving on the path of development; its growth rate was faster than the national average. “With this rate of growth the state budget will reach Rs200,000 crore [Rs2 trillion] by 2019-20 and 500,000 crore [[Rs5 trillion] by year 2024. With the formation of Telangna state our problems of resources crunch have come to an end”, he said.
