Release funds, fulfil promises: TRS to Centre

TRS floor leader in Lok Sabha Nageshwara Rao reiterates demand for sanction of national project status to Kaleshwaram

Hyderabad: The TRS on Friday demanded that the Central government implement the promises and allocations made to Telangana as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, besides extending support for the development of the State on all fronts. The party MPs also questioned the step-motherly attitude of the Centre towards the State and urged the Union government to release long-pending funds that were sanctioned to the State in the past budgets.

In a discussion on the Union Budget 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha on Friday, TRS floor leader Nama Nageshwara Rao stressed the importance of inter-linking of rivers for optimum utilisation of water resources. Pointing out that the Centre had allocated funds to 7,400 projects as part of the national infrastructure development programme, he reiterated the demand for sanction of national project status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme besides allocation of requisite funds. He also sought funding for development of facilities to increase agriculture operations as Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was giving top priority to the sector in the State.

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The TRS floor leader said Hyderabad was manufacturing over six billion vaccine dosages every year which is one-third of the total vaccine production in the world. Considering this, there is a need to set up a virology lab in Hyderabad. Chandrashekhar Rao, he said, has already requested the Centre to establish a vaccine testing and certification laboratory in Hyderabad. “The same proposal was made by Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu to the Union government. Besides, Industries Minister KT Rama Rao had also written to the Union Health Minister in this regard,” he said.

Stressing the need to focus on provision of basic amenities, Nageshwara Rao sought a lion’s share of funds to the State as part of Rs 1.97 lakh crore to be spent in 13 different sectors by the Central government in next five years under Atmanirbhar Bharat. He urged the Centre to establish a mega powerloom cluster at Sircilla with Rs 993.65 crore as Telangana was leading in cotton production in the country. He also sought establishment of new Navodaya, Kedriya Vidyalayas, and Sainik Schools apart from allocation of funds for various Central educational institutions in the State.

Meanwhile, Nagarkurnool MP P Ramulu said the Centre was meting out step-motherly treatment to Telangana in the allocation of funds for various projects in the State. He pointed out that despite strong recommendations from the NITI Aayog, the Centre was not releasing adequate funds to the welfare and development programmes taken up by the State government. He also demanded sanction of the Gadwal-Macherla railway line, which has been pending for decades.

MP Badugula Lingaiah Yadav also raised the long-pending issues pertaining to the State in the Rajya Sabha during the Question Hour. He said the Centre was ignoring the requests from the State government with regard to Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR), dry ports and other infrastructure development projects.

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