Published: Updated On – 11:01 PM, Wed – 9 March 22
People glued to television sets as Chief Minister
K Chandrashekhar Rao addresses in Assembly.
Hyderabad: March 9, 2022, will go down as a landmark day in the history of Telangana State with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao delivering on his promise of ‘Neellu-Nidhulu-Niyaamakaalu’ (Water, Funds, Jobs), the slogan he had coined while launching the Statehood movement in 2001.
The much-neglected Telangana region, starved of funds for decades, achieved financial independence the day it got Statehood on June 2, 2014, and in double-quick time, the TRS government ensured that water, both for irrigation and household purposes, was available in plenty. The only part of the promise that remained, to some extent, was jobs for the unemployed in the State, and this too was fulfilled on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister not only announced a massive recruitment drive to fill vacant posts in government departments but also laid out a clear blueprint for annual recruitments in the years to avoid discontent among the youth. Chandrashekhar Rao, in his opening remarks in the State Assembly, slammed the Opposition parties for their lack of understanding of the reasons that led to the delay in filling vacant posts and spreading falsehood to gain political mileage.
“Politics may be a game for other parties, but for the ruling TRS, it is a task and responsibility,” he asserted while castigating the Centre for causing unnecessary delay in clearing the new zonal system as well as facilitation of passing the new Presidential Order. Recalling that Telangana suffered heavily due to discrimination in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, he said: “The people of Telangana suffered for want of water, funds and jobs which prompted me to launch the Statehood movement. We realised our dream of Telangana State in 2014 and thereafter embarked on addressing the three crucial issues in a phased manner,” he explained.
Despite political detractors hurling choicest of abuses against those in the government including the Chief Minister, the State government worked in pursuit of its vision of overall development of Telangana and also live up to the aspirations of the people in the newly-formed State, he said. “Telangana reinvented and reoriented itself to make rapid strides in development. We have overcome several hurdles created by the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh and the Centre’s discrimination to now emerge as the best performing State,” he said.
Stating that the slogan of ‘Neellu-Nidhulu-Niyaamakaalu’ had now been fulfilled, Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that the government constructed numerous irrigation projects including Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme to make optimum use of the allocated river water share. “While funds were being completely utilised for the development of the State, the fight for Telangana’s rightful share in river water is still on,” he said, adding that the core issues were being addressed in a phased manner as the government wants to find a permanent solution to the prevailing problems by developing a concrete system and policy.
The Chief Minister held the meaningless arguments of the Andhra Pradesh government and the Centre’s apathy in addressing the inter-State issues responsible for undue delay in filling vacant government posts. While the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh caused a delay in finalising seniority of the employees to facilitate their division between the two States, it was now raising silly issues over the division of institutions under Schedule 9 and 10 of the AP Reorganization Act, he said.
“In the process, some political parties are creating unnecessary ruckus and even hurling choicest of abuses against me as well. They lack complete understanding of the issue and are criticising the government only for political mileage,” he said. He slammed the Centre for its failure in fulfilling its responsibility of arbitration and resolving the inter-State issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that though the State Legislative Assembly passed a resolution for a new zonal system, the Centre did not respond till he personally met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind. Due to the new zonal system, the government was in a position to ensure 95 per cent of jobs to the locals, he pointed out. Similarly, GO 317 was also issued to rationalise all posts, take up promotions and arrive at the exact number of vacancies in various departments. The State government has already regularised the contract jobs of 22,722 personnel working in various power utilities since State formation.
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