Hyderabad: Telangana health minister T Harish Rao on Sunday slammed Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for her remarks on the allocation of medical colleges by centre to the state.
The Governor reacting to a Twitter user’s question on the number of medical colleges given to Telangana, said that the state government failed to apply in time as stated by union minister Mansukh Mandaviya. ‘You sleep and wake up late and ask. TN got 11 medical colleges in a single Year,” she remarked.
Responding to her tweet, Harish Rao said that the centre released only Rs 156 crores out of Rs 1365 crores estimated for the completion of All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) Bibinagar.
He questioned the union government as to why the Gujarat AIIMS received 52 per cent of the funds allocated for it while Telangana received only 11.4 percent.
He remarked, “It would be a great help to people of Telangana, if Raj Bhavan reorients its focus and pushes Government of India for a Tribal University and Rail Coach factory, as promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014”.
“Why no one voices about injustice meted to TS? Why not find fault with Centre in the interest of Telangana? It would be a great help to people of TS, if Raj Bhavan reorients its focus & pushes GoI for Tribal University and Rail Coach factory, as promised in APRA2014,” he tweeted.
He further tweeted, “Fact is gross injustice meted out to Telangana in sanctioning of Medical Colleges, despite repeated pleas from state government to Centre”.
He said that out of 157 medical colleges approved by Centre, none were allocated to Telangana. “Union government discriminated and deceived Telangana in all three phases of allotment of colleges,” he added.
Referring to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks that medical colleges were not allotted to Telangana state as the state government proposed districts that already have the medical colleges, Rao said, “Who is misleading people?”
“What’s worse is Union ministers’ contrasting statements on medical colleges. One said Telangana didn’t make any request, other said government wanted colleges in Khammam and Karimnagar. By stating Centre didn’t give a nod bcos private colleges are already set up, Who is misleading people?” he further remarked.
He said that chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao set up 12 medical colleges in Telangana with the state’s own funds. He said that the medical colleges were allotted in tune with the vision of setting up one medical college per each district.
“Telangana tops in the country with 19 MBBS seats per one lakh population. Instead of hurling abuses, the Centre and the Governor should appreciate the state government for opening 8 medical colleges in one day,” he said.
He questioned the Central government saying “Why does Gujarat AIIMS get 52% of estimated funds while Telangana gets only 11.4 percent when both the projects were sanctioned in 2018?”
“Instead of giving funds to Bibinagar AIIMS, which is supposed to be on par with Delhi AIIMS, Union minister makes false claims blaming Telangana government,” he said in another tweet.
