Telangana’s Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday reiterated his claim that the state government filled 1,32,899 posts in various departments during the last six years.

With the opposition parties disputing his claim, the minister released the number of vacancies filled in each department.

The claims and counter claims come in view of the elections to two graduates’ constituencies of the Telangana Legislative Council scheduled on March 14.

In an open letter, the minister alleged that the opposition parties were resorting to false propaganda to confuse people. especially youth

“The Congress and the BJP are concealing the truth and deliberately spreading false information about job recruitment in Telangana since the TRS government came to power,” said Rama Rao, who is also the Working President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

He also reiterated that if anyone has any doubts about our government’s commitment to job recruitment, they can approach respective departments and clarify.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said it was sad that even a senior politician like Jana Reddy tend to spread lies, and challenged him to provide details of jobs filled during the 10-year rule of his Congress party.

He said to curtail false information spread by senior leaders like Jana Reddy and opposition parties in front of the media, he is providing complete details of 1,32,899 lakh job vacancies that the TRS government has filled since 2014.

“I am presenting all these details with the sole intention of giving clarity and providing the right information to the people of Telangana, especially the youth, who are being confused and misled by the opposition’s baseless accusations.”

He said the Telangana State Public Service Commission recruited 30,594 employees while the Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board filled 31,972 vacancies.

The Telangana State Residential Education Institutes Recruitment Board filled 3,623 posts, the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University 179 posts, the Acharya Konda Laxman Bapuji Telangana State Horticulture University 80, the Director Minorities Welfare 66, Junior Panchayat Secretaries 9,355, the Ayush Department 171, TS-GENCO 856, TS-NPDCL 164, TS-SPDCL 201, TS- TRANSCO 206, TSRTC 4,768, while the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd filled 12,500 posts.

KTR said 22,637 employees of the Electricity Department were regularized. Hyderabad Water Board filled 807 vacancies, Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank 243 and DCCBs filled 1,571 vacancies. Filling up of another 6,258 posts is in final stage.

Telangana’s Information Technology and Industry Ministry K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday termed as “factually incorrect” the statement on Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR), Hyderabad, given by Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Sanjay Dhotre in the Lok Sabha.

Dhotre was responding to a question by BJP member Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Wednesday.

KTR, as the Telangana minister is known, claimed that in spite of submitting all necessary information, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and also several reminders in the last six years, the Union Minister chose to mislead the house.

The Union Minister said: “The Government of Telangana was asked to submit the required information to the concerned ministries with intimation to MeitY. No information was furnished by the Government of Telangana.”

KTR said that it was very unfair on the part of the NDA government and the Telangana BJP leaders to blame the Telangana government despite repeated requests by the state government to the Centre.

He recalled that first such letter was written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao as soon as the state of Telangana was formed in June 2014.

KTR submitted another detailed memorandum on ITIR to the Centre in September 2014.

He said in 2016 he met the then Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya to present the DPR in response to the latter’s comments that the Telangana government did not submit a project report for ITIR.

“Though the Telangana government presented a project report on ITIR twice, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya commented that we did not submit the DPR. Probably he might have been misguided by officials. To put things straight and make facts clear, I have personally met him, informed him, and also presented the DPR of ITIR once again,” KTR had told media after meeting Dattatreya.

Several reminders about ITIR Project were submitted to Prime Minister Modi and Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad over the last six years. “Yet the NDA government chose to ignore these requests. The intention to discontinue the ITIR Project was very clearly understood by the noncommittal responses of NDA government.”

Last month, KTR wrote a letter to Prasad requesting funds for the ITIR project. Yet, the union government did not allocate a single rupee in the current year’s budget, he said.

“While the facts are thus, it is unfortunate that Union Minister Sanjay Dhotre chose to issue a factually incorrect statement. It is also irresponsible on the part of state BJP leaders to resort to a smear campaign on the Telangana State Government without ascertaining the facts,” he added.

The World Economic Forum has invited Telangana’s minister for information technology and industry K.T. Rama Rao for the Global Technology Governance Summit scheduled to be held in Japan from April 5 to 7 this year.

The minister has received the invitation from World Economic Forum President Brge Brende. “Under your forward-looking leadership, Telangana has been at the forefront of using emerging technologies for societal benefits. Thank you for your support of the AI4AI: Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation and G20 Smart Cities Alliance. It will be a pleasure to work together to further deepen their impact,” he wrote.

“The emerging technologies of the fourth industrial revolution have a vital role to play as countries recover from and rebuild following the COVID pandemic,” he added.

The Global Technology Governance Summit will build on the forum’s pioneering work on global technology governance and bring stakeholders from the government, business, and civil society to identify how to harness and regulate these technologies to accelerate growth, encourage innovation, and build resilience.

The summit will also aim to help scale public-private initiatives to nurture the development of fourth industrial revolution technologies while mitigating their risks.

Telangana’s Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao has urged the Centre to allocate funds in the Union Budget 2021-22 for various municipal projects in the state.

He has written letters to Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardip Singh Puri and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting funds for the Strategic Nala Development Plan (SNDP), developing a sewer network infrastructure for liquid waste collection in Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) area, a Metro Net Project in Warangal, and solid waste management in urban local bodies in the state.

KTR, as the state minister is popularly known, said that to develop the sewer network infrastructure for liquid waste collection in the HUA area, the government has introduced a Comprehensive Sewerage Master Plan (CSMP), already made detailed study of planning, survey, design, estimations and prepared a detailed project report.

He also mentioned that in compliance with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directions to mitigate the sewage pollution in Musi river stretches and water bodies in HUA, CSMP is being given top priority. The sewage line network for a total length of 2,232 km is proposed, consisting of connection network, sub mains and trunk sewers to the STPs at a total cost of Rs 3,722 crore and the government would take up to 36 months for finishing the works, he said.

KTR requested for a sanction of 20 per cent of the project cost which would be Rs 750 crore out of the total project cost of Rs 3,722 crore.

Mentioning the recent flood situation in Hyderabad and its after effects, the minister highlighted the challenges in natural flow of water due to narrowing of nalas, and storm water drains over the years in Hyderabad.

“As a permanent solution to the issue, the government has set up Strategic Nala Development Plan (SNDP), a dedicated project headed by the GHMC to plan and develop a comprehensive storm water drainage network in Hyderabad,” he said. While the SNDP cost is Rs 1,200 crore, he sought Rs 240 crore funds for the project.

“To strengthen the public transport in Warangal, keeping in mind the present and future requirements of the citizens, the Government of Telangana intends to set up Metro Neo Project,” said KTR. He stated that at present the population of Warangal is about 15 lakh and would increase up to 35 lakh by 2051.

Metro Neo Project in Nashik, which was set up by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, has prepared a DPR on setting up of Metro Neo Project in Warangal, similar to that of Nashik.

As per the DPR, Warangal Metro Neo Rail will be of 15.5 km length and would be laid at an estimated cost of Rs 1,050 crore. KTR requested for a sanction of Rs 210 crore from the Centre for this.

Noting that the Telangana government is in the forefront in implementing the citizen centric reforms, he said that tenders were finalised for bio-mining solid waste in the ULBs of the state at an estimated cost of Rs 258 crore for 2021-22. Tenders were also finalised for bio-mining and remediation of 70 lakh metric tons of legacy waste in ULBs in the state with an estimated cost of Rs 520 crore.

Works for construction of Fecal Sludge Treatment Plant (FSTP) in 71 ULBs have commenced and in 5 ULBs, the works have already been completed. The government is spending Rs 250 crore for the works.

DPRs for underground drainage and waste treatment were prepared for 57 ULBs in the state with an estimated cost of Rs 13, 238 crore. In the first phase, works will be taken up in about 30 ULBs at a cost of Rs 2,828 crore.

With about Rs 3,777 crore, the state government will work on various projects during FY 2021-22. “Since these are major works of infrastructure, it is requested that the Government of India may share 20 per cent of these expenditures and provide Rs 750 Crore in the budget for 2021-22,” he said.

Telangana is increasingly fortunate in all respects ever since the 2014 AP Reorganisation. It has got Hyderabad metro city as its Capital City. What more, the State has got political stability with the same party winning successive elections in 2014 and 2019. The same Chief Minister continuing for the past seven and half years is another boon since there are no policy disruptions. Hyderabad is bringing huge revenue with its IT industry contributing a major share as well.
Despite making lots of progress, Minister KT Rama Rao has once again come out with a big plan to expand IT industry further. He is talking of opening more IT parks in Uppal, Nacharam, Kompelli and other outlying areas in Hyderabad. What more, KTR says their Government is going to expand IT parks network in towns all over Telangana. These include Warangal, Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar, etc.
The future appears to be software industry. Only around this, all sectors are expected to grow. While Telangana is making big progress in this respect, Andhra Pradesh is lagging far behind. Lack of political stability and politics of confrontation are having a huge negative impact. Visakhapatnam was initially promoted as an IT hub. Now, that emphasis took a back seat with the port city being promoted as the Executive Capital City with major buildings and infrastructure being re-allocated for administration machinery.

Hours after the BJP released its manifesto for the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, IT and MAUD minister K T Rama Rao alleged that the saffron party’s manifesto is copied-pasted from the TRS manifesto.
He remarked that the BJP lacked ingenuity even in the use of images in its manifesto. He alleged that the BJP not only copied several promises made by the ruling TRS manifesto, but even the images used in the saffron party’s manifesto are also the schemes already grounded by the ruling TRS party.
“Dear manifesto writers, glad that you chose pictures of the work done by TRS govt in GHMC manifesto. We will take this as a compliment to our work. But let me remind you what they say in Hyderabad. Nakal marne ko bhi akal chahie (even to copy you need brains),” he tweeted.
In another tweet, KTR wrote, “Wonder who is fooling who? State BJP promises the moon for votes in GHMC elections but union minister says they can’t give a dime from Delhi!”
The BJP promised free water supply, free power to all houses using less than 100 units. Further, the saffron party promised free metro and bus rides for women and scrapping of the Layout Regularisation Scheme. The BJP said it will give Rs 25,000 each to flood-affected family, financial assistance to build one lakh houses under PM Awas Yojana, waiver of property tax in all SC colonies, enactment of Sumedha Act to remove illegal encroachments
Earlier, KTR criticized the Congress manifesto as the joke of the year after the Congress promised free drinking water for people using up to 30,000 litres of water, and Rs 50,000 to every flood-affected family, and Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh to fully and partially destroyed houses.
The TRS in its manifesto promised free water to the households which consumed not more than 20,000 liters a month and free power supply to salons, dhobi ghats, and laundries across the state. The pink party also promised to reimburse the state GST for small budget films (up to Rs 10 crore) allowing the theatres to increase the number of shows per day.
Immediately after TRS released its manifesto, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy alleged that the ruling party’s “useless” manifesto is copied-pasted from the earlier one of 2016 as they have not fulfilled the previous. He alleged that since 2014, the TRS party has been repeating the same promises over and over like a “gramophone record”. He said the TRS party had failed to fulfill its promises made in the last elections.

KT Rama Rao, IT minister and Chief Minister in waiting, on Tuesday, conceded defeat in the Dubbaka Assembly byelection while thanking the people for voting for the TRS.

Stating that the party will review and evaluate the party’s defeat in the polls, KTR however said the party has accepted its defeat with humility. He said the party will not be overwhelmed if it wins nor will it be disheartened by defeat. “Sometimes we get discouraged when results are not as per our expectations but I would like to tell our workers to not be disheartened. We will review and continue to work for the people with our policies. Victory doesn’t make us arrogant, defeat doesn’t demoralize us. If people’s mandate is against us, we have to gracefully accept it. However, I thank all the voters who voted for the party.”

He thanked finance minister Harish Rao and the scores of TRS workers for relentlessly working to ensure the party’s victory. Further, the IT and MAUD minister vowed to rebuild and revive the party at the grassroots level. The IT minister also said the party is not nervous as he knows that the polls will have something good for the party. “The victory or loss certainly have their respective meanings but these are not the reasons for which we will be disheartened and continue to serve the people with even more grit and determination. The results will help us do some introspection and review in the days to come.”

BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao defeated TRS candidate Ramalinga Reddy’s wife Solipeta Sujatha by a wafer-thin margin of votes. While Solipeta Sujatha polled 61,302, Raghunandan gave a tough fight by polling 62,772 votes. The BJP pinned high hopes on Raghunandan Rao although he had lost the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress has fielded Cheruku Srinivas Reddy, the son of late former minister Cheruku Muthyam Reddy, who polled 29,239 votes.

With the Dubbaka bypoll victory, the BJP seems to have made it’s first big has made deep inroads in the state which appeared to be impregnable with K Chandrasekhar Rao being at the helm of affairs.

The Telangana State Assembly on Tuesday passed the GHMC (Amendment Bill) 2020.

The amendment to GHMC Act allows 50 percent reservation for women mandatory in GHMC Council. The Bill brings four more amendments to the GHMC Act, including allocation of 10 per cent of GHMC budget for Green Budget.

The Bill was introduced by Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao. The MAUD minister said Telangana became the first state in the country to provide 50 per cent reservation for women in all local bodies by amending the Panchayat Raj Act, the Municipal Act and the GHMC Act. He stated that the 50 percent reservation for women in GHMC Council was being implemented following an electoral promise made by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. He stated that the TRS government had set an example for other states in the country by getting women to win from 79 municipal divisions against reservation of 75 of 150 municipal divisions in GHMC.

“The Telangana government is the first state in the country to give 50 per cent reservation to women in local bodies even before the Central government started making efforts and sought the opinion of the States to provide 50 percent reservation for women in all legislative houses as per Article 243 (T) which mandates 33 percent reservation for women in all legislative houses,” KTR informed the Assembly.