Coronavirus infections among TRS senior leaders and the mysterious disappearance of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has raised questions over the extent of an outbreak that has become a flashpoint in the spread of the virus in the state.

The Telangana government which claims to be transparent has been anything but transparent. What happened to KCR? Why is the Telangana government, health minister Eetala Rajender silent on the growing noises of the Opposition parties about KCR’s mysterious disappearance?

The Twitter active K T Rama Rao, IT minister and KCR’s son, who is known for transparency too is silent on his father and CM’s health condition. Why is Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar silent? Why is the Special Chief Secretary (Health, Medical and Family Welfare) silent?

The Chief Minister’s disappearance comes in the wake of a growing number of his colleagues tested positive for the infection, including Home Minister Mahamood Ali and three legislators. The KCR government drew flak on the most crucial aspect in handling this pandemic — testing.

State Congress leaders Uttam Kumar Reddy and Jeevan Reddy had raised doubts over the health of the Chief Minister and accused KCR of “hiding” in his farm house at a time the state was going through severe financial and health crisis due to the pandemic.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee working president and Malkajgiri MLA Revanth Reddy took to his Twitter handle demanding that the health ministry release a bulletin on the health condition of KCR. State BJP and CPI leaders too sought to know the reason behind the mysterious disappearance of the Chief Minister after announcing the PV Narasimha Rao centenary celebrations at a function at PV Ghat on the Necklace Road on June 28. However, KCR had not been active in public programmes or daily press briefings.

A petitioner moved the Telangana High Court seeking to know the reasons behind the disappearance of KCR. The petitioner, Naveen alias Teenmar Mallanna, had filed a Mandamus writ petition in the Telangana High Court seeking the whereabouts of the Chief Minister. The petitioner sought to know through the court the health condition of the CM

Instead of giving a clarification on KCR’s health condition. The TRS ministers and MLAs are resorting to counter-attacks on the Opposition parties.

“Why are the Opposition parties worried about KCR? What is the loss for the Opposition parties if the chief minister is not in action? Did the administration come to halt with the absence of the Chief Minister? Have the welfare schemes stopped with his absence? Some useless opposition leaders are unnecessarily raising a non-issue,” Tourism and cinematography minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav Animal Husbandry slammed.

His Cabinet colleague Srinivas Goud too deflected from the core issue – where is KCR? “How does it matter to anyone where KCR is? Did we stop any programme or welfare scheme? KCR’s heart is robust. No one should have worries over his health. His farm house is pretty much in Telangana and not in Amaravati. He is discharging his duties from the Telangana soil only,” he said while brushing aside doubts over KCR’s health condition.

It is not just KCR’s health, the Telangana government did not exhibit transparency on several fronts in dealing with the pandemic. Right from the beginning, the government had tried to hide the real Covid data. The gaps in governance became too apparent. Patients in critical conditions have complained of lack of ventilators, oxygen, adequate beds in government hospitals. The exploding Covid situation in Telangana has exposed everything that is wrong with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. That Telangana initially mismanaged COVID-19 outbreak seems clear. The government had failed in pandemic preparedness from low testing to not expanding the health infrastructure.

The KCR government’s hollow claims of pandemic preparedness by promising a robust health infrastructure were thoroughly exposed. KCR had assured that his government was ready to tackle even one lakh infection cases. The High Court had pulled up the Telangana government for shortage of PPE kits, N95 masks to frontline warriors. Telangana Governor Dr Tamilsai Soundarajan had persistently been saying that the state government should immediately step up testing and adopt newer strategies to counter the spread of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic shows little signs of letting up in Telangana. The deadly infection, which has killed millions of people across the world, has now entered Pragathi Bhavan – the official residence of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Although the government did not release official communication, it is learnt that at least 20 employees working in Pragathi Bhavan, including security personnel and outsourcing staff, contracted the virus in the last one week. With Covid-19 entering Pragathi Bhavan, it is learnt that the Chief Minister has moved to his Gajwel house along with his family members a week ago.

All the government offices and employees have been affected by the pandemic. Covid-19 has hit the BRKR Bhavan which houses the GHMC office with more than six employees tested positive for the infection. Metro Rail Bhavan employees too were tested positive for Covid-19 following which the offices were sanitized.

The growing cases of employees in government offices testing positive for coronavirus has come as a serious concern for the government. The KCR government had directed all the government offices to function on a rotational basis starting June 22 till July 4 with 50 per cent staff. The working strength of all government offices was kept at a maximum of 50 per cent amid a spike in the corona cases. The decision was taken as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19 among government employees.

Earlier, Telangana Home minister Mahamood Ali was also tested positive for covid-19. Mahmood Ali is known asthmatic. Three MLAs including Jagan legislator Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy, Nizamabad Rural and Urban MLAs Bajireddy Govardhan and Ganesh Gupta were tested positive for coronavirus.

The state has been reporting a three digit spike in the number of cases each day. With alarming rise in corona cases. On Thursday, Telangana had reported 1,213 new COVID-19 cases. The total number of coronavirus cases in the state climbed up to 18,570. There is speculation that the TRS government is likely to reimpose lockdown although some ministers in the KCR Cabinet seem to be against the idea.

An umbrella group of various Muslim organisations in Telangana has appealed to the state government to withdraw its decision to celebrate birth centenary celebrations of former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, saying the move has hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community.

United Muslim Forum (UMF) said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s move to organise year-long programmes to celebrate the centenary had hurt the sentiments of those sections of people who believe in secularism, and especially Muslims.

UMF is headed by Moulana Raheemduddin Ansari, who is the chairman of Telangana Urdu Academy, a government body.

The group is close to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a friendly party of Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Though AIMIM is also part of UMF, the statement issued by the body did not carry the name of any party leader. The clerics and other prominent people who issued the statement are considered close to AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

AIMIM’s critics have questioned Owaisi’s silence over the centenary celebrations launched by KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, on Sunday.

The Hyderabad MP has friendly ties with KCR and has been great supporter of the latter’s secular outlook. Owaisi’s party, UMF and other Muslim groups backed TRS in 2018 Assembly elections and the last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

UMF pointed out that it was during Narasimha Rao’s regime that Babri Masjid was demolished, causing huge damage to the country’s secular fabric. “Narasimha Rao while being in Congress implemented the agenda of Sangh Parivar,” it said and reminded KCR that hundreds of Muslims were killed in the post-demolition riots and Muslims youth were jailed under black laws like TADA and tortured.

UMF said KCR’s sympathies with Narasimha Rao and the move to organize centenary celebrations created unease among the secular forces, especially minorities.

The Muslim leaders advised the Chief Minister to cancel Narasimha Rao’s centenary celebrations and instead focus on containing spread of Covid-19 in the state.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami has also opposed the TRS government’s move to organise centenary celebrations and termed this as a burden on public exchequer and waste of time.

Jamaat’s Telangana unit chief Mohammed Hamed Khan said at a time when Covid-19 was spreading fast and people were worried over lack of proper healthcare facilities and infrastructure, the TRS government was wasting public money, time and energy on birth centenary celebrations of Narasimha Rao.

Khan reminded KCR that it was during Narasimha Rao’s rule that India witnessed the greatest tragedy of demolition of Bbari Masjid. He told the Chief Minister that centenary celebrations would reopen the wounds of Muslims. He also pointed out that it was due to Narasimha Rao’s condemnable actions that his own party Congress dumped him.

In a big victory to the Telangana government, the High Court on Monday gave its stamp of approval to demolish the existing Secretariat building at Saifabad.
After protracted hearings lasting more than a year, the High Court gave a green signal to the KCR government to demolish the Secretariat building.

The High Court was hearing petitions filed by Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) vice-president Professor PL Vishweswar Rao and Congress MP Revanth Reddy who had argued that the state government was bent on wasting public money for the construction of new Secretariat when the existing building was structurally sound.

On its part, the Telangana government contended that there was an urgent need for the construction of a new Secretariat considering the growth of the city and the State. The existing Secretariat and assembly buildings have become congested and outlived their utility, the government had contended. Further, the government had informed the court that the new Secretariat would be built at a cost of nearly Rs 400 crore. Further, it had argued that the petitions were ‘politically motivated’.

Earlier, a division bench of the HC, issued an interim order asking the defence ministry to put in place the official procedures in transfer of around 55-acres Bison Polo land, adjacent to Secunderabad Parade grounds.

In 2019, the KCR government announced plans to build a new Secretariat complex with ultramodern facilities, and a perfect Vaastu, in the Bison Polo grounds at Secunderabad. The state government had announced that it would demolish the existing one at Saifabad, along with a new Assembly building. An expert technical committee and a Cabinet sub-committee had also looked into the issue last year and recommended the same.

KCR ran his administration and also held his Cabinet meetings from his official-cum-residential complex Pragathi Bhavan in Begumpet and had never worked from the existing Secretariat as he had felt something was wrong with its Vaastu. The KCR government’s move to construct a new Secertairt at the Bison Polo Grounds triggered wide-spread protests. Thousands of citizens in Hyderabad and Secunderabad vehementanly opposed the move as construction of new Secretariat will rob the citizens of their lung space and also lead to traffic bottlenecks.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao launched the sixth phase of ‘Haritha Haram’, billed as one of the world’s largest plantation drive, by planting saplings at eco-park at Narsapur in Medak district on Thursday.

He also formally opened the urban forest, developed over 630 acres as part of the rejuvenation of Narsapur forest. Forest Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy, Finance Minister T. Harish Rao and senior officials attended the programme.

The Forest Minister said about 30 crore saplings would be planted during the sixth phase of Haritha Haram. The Medak district administration is planning to plant 50 lakh saplings.

Increasing the green cover to 33 per cent and achieving green Telangana are the objectives of Haritha Haram, started in 2015.

During the drive, forest, panchayati raj and rural development, municipal administration and other departments plant saplings across the state every year.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, has asked officials to adopt the Yadadri model, which was based on the Miyawaki method of growing thick forests.

He asked them to set up plant nursery at every 30 km on all state and national highways and continue the plantation programme on their sides.

Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao launched the sixth phase of Haritha Haram in Hyderabad. As part of the programme, the government had developed urban lung spaces across the state, he said.

Fearing a backlash from the government employees, the Telangana government has decided to pay full salaries and pensions to the government employees. A decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday.

The decision also follows the Telanagana High Court taking a serious view on the government’s decision to slash salaries and pensions of employees.

A petition was filed by retired DIFO Raman Goud who argued that the ordinance was illegal and against the spirit of the Constitution. Hearing the petition, the Telangana High Court had issued notices to the KCR government.
On June 16, the Telangana High Court termed slashing of pensions by 50% and salaries by 75% illegal. The Telangana High Court had earlier directed the state government to file an affidavit and questioned the government’s rationale behind slashing the salaries and pensions.

The HC had observed that the Telangana government’s orders were not backed by any provision of the law. Following this, the Telangana government on June 17 promulgated an ordinance to defer payment of salaries and pensions to the government employees in view of dwindling revenues due to the corona imposed lockdown.

In a tearing hurry, the KCR government had promulgated the Telangana Disaster and Public Health Emergency (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2020 that enables it to defer payments of monthly salaries, pension or remuneration to employees, pensioners. The ordinance was approved by Governor Tamilsai Soundarajan. As per the ordinance, the government can put off the payments of salaries and pensions to 50 per cent.

The Ordinance was promulgated after the state government employees and pensioners associations filed a petition in the High Court against the deferment of salaries and pensions. The ordinance will be applicable to all the institutions and statutory bodies that are being controlled by the state government such as universities, colleges, schools and other government institutions. As per the ordinance, the deferred amount should be payable in six months from the date of deferment.

In May, the government has decided to cut the salary of the Chief Minister, Ministers, MLAs and MLCs by 75 per cent. Similarly, it had cut the salaries of IAS, IPS and IFS officers by 60 per cent due to loss of revenue to the government in the light of the complete lockdown declared to contain the spread of corona virus. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had claimed that the Telangana government had lost around Rs 12,000 crore revenue due to the complete lockdown declared to contain the spread of corona virus.

The Telangana government on Thursday promulgated an ordinance to defer payment of salaries and pensions to the government employees even as the case will be heard in the High Court on June 17.

The KCR government had promulgated the Telangana Disaster and Public Health Emergency (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2020 that enables it to defer payments of monthly salaries, pension or remuneration to employees, pensioners. The government can put off the payments of salaries and pensions to 50 per cent as per the ordinance.

It may be noted that the KCR government had slashed salaries of the government employees by 50% and pensions by 75% after the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed in March last week. The Ordinance was promulgated after the state government employees and pensioners associations filed a petition in the High Court against the deferment of salaries and pensions. The Telangana High Court had earlier directed the state government to file an affidavit and questioned the government’s rationale behind slashing the salaries and  pensions.

The ordinance will be applicable to all the institutions and statutory bodies that are being controlled by the state government such as universities, colleges, schools and other government institutions.  As per the ordinance, the deferred amount should be payable in six months from the date of deferment

The Telangana government, here on Wednesday, sounded a high alert in the districts bordering Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh over possible locust attack.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao asked officials in eight districts to be on high alert and take measures to protect the state from locusts.

The locust swarm may enter Bhadrachalam, Charla, Venkatapuram, Vajedu, Peruru, Mangampet, Eturu Naagaram, Chennuru, Vemanapalli, Koutala, Dharmabad, Bodhan, Jukkal, Banswada, Narayankhed and Zaheerabad areas.

The Collectors of Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Mulugu, Mancherial, Adilabad, Nirmal, Asifabad, Nizamabad, Kamareddy and Sangareddy districts have been asked to regularly review the situation and act accordingly.

Locusts have entered the country in three phases. Last month a swarm of locusts came up to Maharashtra and MP but didn’t enter Telangana.

“Locusts are now at Azmi village near Ramtek in Maharashtra, around 200 km from Telangana,” said a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office. If the swarm moved southwards, it would reach Telangana in no time, it added.

At a meeting, KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, reviewed the latest information on the location and movement of locusts.

According to experts, locusts may hit the state between June 20 to July 5. “If locusts attack, there will be huge loss as they would eat away the monsoon tender crop,” said an expert.

KCR has set up a special team, led by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, to oversee the measures taken to prevent locusts from entering the state.

Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Janardhan Reddy, Agriculture University Vice-Chancellor Praveen Rao, CIPMC Plant Protection Officer R Sunitha, Agriculture University senior scientist Rahman and others will tour Adilabad for two days and review the situation with the District Collectors.