Congress promises empowerment of Tribals

Kamareddy: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday unveiled the plan for empowerment of Tribals if Congress is voted to power in next elections.
 
Announcing 'Girijana Declaration' at a massive public meeting 'Girijana Sadasu' in Kamareddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy promised that the ST quota would be enhanced in proportionate to their population in Telangana State. He also promised to fill all the ST vacancies. Stating that TRS Government has cheated Girijans, he promised that the next Congress Government would establish a Tribal University.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy said a steel plant would be established at Bayyaram and Integrated Tribal Development Authority (ITDA) for Tribals living in plain areas. He said all ST farmers would be given crop loan waiver up to Rs. 2 lakh along with others. He also promised that the next Congress Government would ensure remunerative prices for all crops. He said that the jobless youth would be given unemployment allowance of Rs. 3,000 per month.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has failed to fulfil a single major promise that he made with ST although TRS had enjoyed full support of Tribals in last elections. Instead, he alleged that the TRS Government was snatching away the land from Tribals in the name of Harithaharam programme. He said that the Congress would not tolerate any injustice with Tribals.
 
The TPCC Chief said that only Congress party could do justice with Tribals and other sections of the society. He also reminded of Khammam incident wherein ST farmers were implicated in false cases, chained and hand cuffed for demanding better prices for their chilli produce.
 
Stating that next Assembly elections could be held in December this year, Uttam Kumar Reddy claimed that the Congress party was all set to win at least 80 out of 119 seats.
 
Earlier, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir cited an instance of TRS Government taking away a Tribal land in Machareddy mandal. He said that the land was resorted after the victim approached the court.
 
The meeting was also addressed by Congress Legislature Party leader K. Jana Reddy, MLC Akula Lalitha, ex-union minister Balram Naik, ex-MP Suresh Shetkar and other leaders.