Rythu Bandhu a model for nation: KTR

Hyderabad: Municipal Administration, Industries and Commerce Minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday said that the Rythu Bandhu scheme has become a model for the country as several States have been emulating it.

Giving reply on behalf of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on discussion on the demands of I and PR and other departments, he justified issuing advertisements in media of other States about the performance of the State.

"Telangana is a budding State and all eyes are on it. People of the country are anxious to see how the State was performing. In the past, people used to say that India thinks what Bengal thinks. Now the situation has changed. Now people think what Telangana thinks," he stated.

The minister mentioned that advertisements have been given in other States on the performance of Telangana to inform the country about the happenings in the State. He said that this would help to attract more investments.

KTR said the posts in the State's Right to Information Commission office would be filled soon. The Commission has received about 20,075 applications under the RTI and out of them 10,354 have been disposed of, he added. Also, he said that about 8,850 applications are in pending.

Speaking on the issue of house sites to journalists, KTR assured the House of following up the case in the Supreme Court on the issue and would take further steps as per the directions of the court.

The minister informed that children of the journalists, who died have been provided with tuition fee.

He said that Rs 100 crore fund has been created for the welfare of the journalists. As many as 16,000 accreditation cards have been issued. He said that the MLAs have also been allotted house sites and there was a case on the issue.

As soon as the case in the Supreme Court is disposed, the issue would be addressed. Congress MLA D Sridhar Babu criticised that the government has been splurging money on giving advertisements in other States.

He asked the government what the need for other States to know about the programmes being implemented in Telangana.