Hyderabad: The budget session of Telangana Assembly beginning on Monday is expected to witness heated debates on the implementation of the Congress government’s election promises and welfare programmes, the proposed Musi river redevelopment and others.
The session will open with the address of the newly appointed Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla. Besides the budget, the election promises and other welfare programmes of the ruling Congress are likely to figure prominently as the government would be nearing the halfway mark of its five-year term.
BRS Working Presidnt K T Rama Rao had said that his party would introduce a Private Member Bill during the budget session to “expose the betrayal of Congress and to demand legal backing for the six guarantees promised during the elections”.
The government is expected to highlight its successes, including free travel for women in state-run buses, LPG cylinders for Rs 500 for poor, distribution of fine variety of rice through PDS, farm loan waiver, SC categorization and caste survey.
The ruling Congress may also bring up the alleged corruption in Kaleshwaram irrigation project built during previous BRS regime and the allegations against K T Rama Rao in the Formula E race case during the session.
At a meeting on city outskirts last week, the BRS leaders deliberated strategies to “expose” the government’s alleged failure in implementing its promises and to raise issues related to failures in governance on the floor of the house.
The Congress government’s plans to undertake redevelopment of the highly polluted Musi river here is also likely to figure prominently during the session. At a power-point presentation here on March 13, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said his government’s plans to rejuvenate Musi river at an estimated cost of about Rs 7,000 crores for the first phase.
According to Reddy, the project would reduce pollution and improve the environment, besides promoting economic activity leading to the generation of jobs and livelihood opportunities.
The government is likely to introduce a bill in the budget session to deduct 10-15 per cent from the salary of government employees who fail to provide for their parents in old age.
Revanth Reddy had also said the state government would enact a legislation aimed at curbing hate speech, which the BJP had described as a political tool to target its leaders and workers in the state.
