Promises galore in Congress manifesto for Telangana

The Congress Saturday released its election manifesto for Telangana, promising creation of one lakh government jobs in the first year if the party comes to power in the yet to be born state.

The Congress, which is seeking votes by claiming credit for granting separate statehood to Telangana, also promised employment to one lakh in each district in three years.

Party's central leader Jairam Ramesh released the election manifesto along with party president of Telangana unit Ponnala Lakshmaiah.

As Telangana is set to become a separate state on June 2, the party declared that the day will be observed every year as Martyrs' day. It promised to create Rs.100 crore trust to help the families of those who laid down their lives for separate Telangana state.

The Congress said if voted to power, it would create another eight to 10 districts. The region currently has 10 districts including Hyderabad. Elections to 119 assembly and 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana are scheduled on April 30.

The manifesto said a special bank with Rs.500 crore would be created for the youth. It said the monthly pension for widows, aged and other sections would be increased to Rs.1,000.

It promised to enhance the retirement age of the government employees from current 58 to 60 years.

The other promises made in the manifesto include Rs.1 lakh incentive to every self-help group, Rs.10,000 incentive to every farmer, uninterrupted seven hour free electricity supply to farmers, six-lane road from every district headquarter to Hyderabad, national status to Pranahita-Chevella project, medical college-cum-super speciality hospital in every district, sub-plan for minorities, special plans for development of scheduled castes and scheduled tribe and a poly technic college and an industrial training institute in every revenue division.