PM Modi’s visit an advertising gimmick, says Harish Rao

Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that Telangana on Thursday completed screening one crore persons in just 50 days after the programme was launched.

Sangareddy: Finance Minister T Harish Rao has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the AIIMS at Bibinagar during his forthcoming visit, under the guise of laying the foundation of new facilities, appeared to be nothing but a publicity gimmick since the institute was functioning for the last four years.

Addressing the gathering after participating in an event to mark one crore screenings as part of the flagship Kanti Velugu programme at Sadashivpet here on Thursday, the Minister said the Telangana government had increased the number of medical colleges from five to 26 within nine years.

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While eight medical colleges were opened last year, everything was in place to open a record nine medical colleges this year as part of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s vision of one medical college in every district headquarters.

The State government however was not attempting to publicise its work like the BJP was doing, which was making such a hue and cry over the PM’s visit to a medical institute that had been functioning for four years already.

The BRS government led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had done more work in nine years than what previous governments led by the Congress and the TDP combinedly did in over 60 years, he added.

The AIIMS-Bibinagar, even after four years, still lacked several important facilities and equipment, and also had nearly half of the posts of doctors, nurses and other staff vacant.

Kanti Velugu crosses 1 crore mark

Talking about the Kanti Velugu programme, the Minister said the State had on Thursday completed screening one crore persons in just 50 days after the programme was launched.

The 1,500 teams constituted by the Health department would complete the rest of the screening in another 50 working days. The programme had so far seen spectacles being distributed to 29 lakh persons.

Zilla Parishad Chairperson P Manjusri, Handloom Corporation Chairperson Chintha Prabhakar, Health Commissioner Swetha Mohanty, Collector A Sharath and others were present.