Telangana celebrates formation day with gaiety

Telangana celebrated its fourth formation day on Saturday with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao declaring that his goal is to free farmers from the loan trap.

The main official celebration was held at Parade Grounds in the state capital, where the Chief Minister unfurled the national flag and reviewed a colourful parade by police.

State ministers, MPs, legislators and other public representatives hoisted the Tricolour in the districts while the day was also celebrated with enthusiasm at government offices. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the opposition parties also organised the celebrations at their respective offices to mark the day.

For the first time the Telangana Formation Day was also celebrated in schools as the government shortened the summer vacation to ensure opening of schools from June 1.

Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of the country in 2014 after a long people's struggle.

Rao, who was leading the movement since 2001, paid rich tributes to the martyrs of Telangana. In his address at the main official function, he recalled that the state was achieved after a struggle with the belief that only statehood to Telangana could change the destiny of its people.

KCR, as the TRS chief is popularly known, said his government implemented several welfare schemes during the last four years to help the people. He listed the programmes launched for the welfare of various sections of the society.

He spoke in detail about the schemes launched for farmers, the latest being the Rythu Bandhu scheme under which farmers will get Rs 8,000 per acre each every year as crop investment support. He said this scheme brought smiles on the faces of farmers, who no longer need to borrow money for cultivation.

KCR announced that from August 15, the government will provide insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to farmers in the state. The government will pay the premium of Rs 2,271 per farmer per year and in case of the insured farmer's accidental or natural death, the nominee will be paid Rs 5 lakh. "The farmers need not pay even a rupee for this insurance scheme," he said.

The Chief Minister said the TRS government took up construction of irrigation projects across the Godavari and Krishna rivers. He exuded confidence that the Kaleshwaram project will become the lifeline of Telangana. He claimed that no other irrigation project in the country is being built with such speed and modern technology.

Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Madhusudhana Chary and State Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud participated in the formation day celebrations in the Legislature premises.

At Telangana Bhavan, the TRS headquarters, Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy unfurled the national flag.

The opposition parties too celebrated the day at their offices. State President of the main opposition Congress party Uttam Kumar Reddy predicted that KCR will not be the Chief Minister on June 2 next year as "by then people would have voted out TRS". He claimed that it was the Congress party that carved out Telangana.

--IANS

ms/qd/bg