Covid-19: 7.4 mn bank accounts to be credited with Rs 1,500 in Telangana

Apart from that each of the nearly 8.8 million food security cardholders in the state would be given 12 kg of rice.

Telangana government would credit around 7.4 million bank accounts with Rs 1,500 on Tuesday as support for the needy during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao said on Monday.

"Total of Rs 11.12 billion has been transferred by the government to the banks," he tweeted.

Rao, who is also the working president of the ruling party TRS, said that more than three lakh tonnes of free rice has been distributed to 87 per cent of the 76 lakh beneficiaries in the state.

The state government had announced that in view of the hardships faced by people due to lockdown, each of the nearly 8.8 million food security cardholders in the state would be given 12 kg of rice and each of these families would be given one-time support of Rs 1,500 to meet expenditure on other essential commodities.

Meanwhile, Congress' Telangana unit president and Lok Sabha MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy said a meeting of all opposition parties would be convened on April 15 to discuss the coronavirus situation in the state and to review the measures taken by the government.

Addressing reporters after a meeting of 'TPCC Task Force on Covid-19', Reddy said the coronavirus situation across the globe has been "turning worse with each passing day".

He added that it was Rahul Gandhi "who alerted everyone on February 12 itself" about the threat coronavirus posed for the people and economy of India.

Gandhi had also expressed apprehension that the government was not taking this threat seriously. His fears came true as the BJP government acted only after one-and-half months by calling for a 'Janata Curfew' on March 22, Reddy alleged.

He claimed that the situation would have been much better had the BJP government at Centre and TRS dispensation in Telangana acted on time.

He alleged that there was a huge delay and several discrepancies in the distribution of free rice among poor families and none of them got the Rs 1,500 financial assistance as promised by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.