Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday decided to convene a preparatory meeting for the implementation of the Telangana Dalit Bandhu scheme in four mandals on a pilot basis.

The meeting will be held at Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Telangana chief minister on September 13.

The chief minister recently announced that Dalit Bandhu will be implemented in four mandals — Chintakani in Madhira constituency, Tirmalgiri in Tungaturthy, Charakonda mandal in Achampet and Kalwakurty constituencies and Nizam Sagar in Jukkal constituency. This is in addition to the ongoing implementation of the scheme on a pilot basis in Huzurabad Constituency.

Ministers, zilla parishad chairpersons, collectors from the four districts of Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad, legislators from Madhira, Tungaturthy, Achampet, Kalwakurty, Jukkal constituencies, SC welfare minister Sri Koppula Eswar, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, SC Development Secretary, CM Secretary Rahul Bojja, Finance Secretary will participate.

The CM said the Karimnagar district collector will attend the meeting as a special invitee and share his experiences at the ground level while implementing the scheme in Huzurabad.

The government has selected four mandals in four Assembly constituencies, which are represented by Dalit MLAs (constituencies reserved for scheduled castes) in the north, east, west and southern parts of the state.

The scheme will be implemented for all Dalit families in these mandals.

The government has taken up Dalit Bandhu as a movement. It has already released Rs 2,000 crore for implementation of the scheme for all Dalit families in Huzurabad constituency.

Under the scheme, every beneficiary Dalit family will get Rs 10 lakh as grant and they will be free to choose their profession, self-employment or businesses for utilising the funds.

Addressing a public meeting on August 16 in Huzurabad constituency to launch the scheme, the chief minister had announced that the government will disburse over Rs 2,000 crore to 21,000 Dalit families in Huzurabad in the next two months.

He had also declared that all the 17 lakh Dalit families in the state will be benefited by the scheme.

The scheme implementation across the state for all Dalit families will cost Rs 1.7 lakh crore. He said the government will allocate Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore in the budget every year for 3 to 4 years.

Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao continues to stay in Delhi even after eight days though there have been no official engagements for the past two days.

KCR left for Delhi on September 1. He laid foundation for construction of TRS office in Delhi on September 2.

Later he met, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 3 and union home minister Amit Shah on September 4.

There was no official programme on September 5. KCR met union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on September 6.

KCR was not seen anywhere after September 6 though he is in Delhi.

This triggered speculations about his health condition as reports came out that KCR is undergoing health check ups at a private hospital in Delhi.

He underwent eye and dental check ups on September 7.

TRS circles say KCR visited the hospital even today (Wednesday) and undergone health check ups.

But there is no official update from TRS or Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

With this, TRS leaders and cadre are discussing his health condition.

KCR never stayed in Delhi for such a long tim earlier after he became CM in 2014. There is no clarity when he will return to Hyderabad though speculations are rife that he will return on Thursday.

Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan gave a new twist to the ongoing controversy over TRS government nominating Padi Kaushik Reddy as MLC under Governor’s quota.

The Telangana cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao approved nomination of Padi Kaushik Reddy as MLC under Governor’s quota on August 1 and sent it to Governor for approval on the same day.

But Governor kept her approval on hold even after more than a month. However, she has maintained complete silence on this issue since then.

The governor on Wednesday (today) broke her silence on this issue for the first time.

She said that she was not happy with the Telangana government nominating Kaushik Reddy under Governor quota under social service category.

Governor said she will examine what social service Kaushik Reddy did before giving her approval. She further said that she will take more time to take a decision on this issue.

Already one month and one week passed since Kaushik Reddy’s name was sent to Raj Bhavan for approval and Governor seeking more time to give her nod reportedly angered CM KCR, who is waiting for the right time to strike against Governor if she rejects Kaushik’s nomination.

36-year Kaushik Reddy is a cricketer who flayed first class matches for Hyderabad and later entered politics. He joined Congress and contested against then TRS candidate Etela Rajender in Huzurabad in 2018 Assembly polls and lost. However, after Etela quit TRS and joined BJP in June this year forcing bypoll in Huzurabad, Kaushik Reddy quit Congress and joined TRS in July. KCR nominated him as MLC within ten days of joining TRS.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), who is on a visit to New Delhi, on Tuesday reviewed the situation in the state in view of heavy rains.

Rao spoke to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar over the phone to review the situation and issued directions. The Chief Minister wanted the District Collectors and the state administration to remain alert and take appropriate measures.

With rivulets and lakes overflowing due to incessant rains, Rao directed that departments be alerted to minimise the inconvenience to people in flood-affected villages and mandals.

Since continuous rains are likely to affect the electricity supply, roads, storm water drains, KCR directed the officials of departments concerned to be put on alert.

Municipal administration, panchayat raj, roads and buildings, and electricity departments were directed to alert the entire staff, from the officials to employees working at the lowest level.

The Chief Minister has instructed that since projects, lakes and tanks are overflowing due to heavy rains, steps must be taken to ensure that people living in low-lying areas do not suffer. He directed that the officials of Water Resources department be asked to remain alert.

KCR also directed the state Chief Secretary to undertake rescue and relief measures in affected areas by making alternate arrangements. He said in view of the alert by the Meteorological department, disaster management teams must be kept ready to rescue those stranded in affected areas.

The Chief Minister urged the public representatives to help the affected people in coordination with the state administration.

He appealed to the people in rain-affected areas not to come out of their houses in view of incessant rains.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday called on Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and urged him to drop 11 projects from the list of unapproved projects in Godavari basin in the notification issued by the Union ministry last month.

During his meeting with Shekhawat in New Delhi, Rao said the 11 projects mentioned as unapproved in Godavari basin as per the gazette notification dated July 15 were started before formation of Telangana and are within the 967.94 TMC share of the state.

Out of this allocation, projects for 758.76 TMC are already cleared by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and water availability has been cleared by the Hydrology Directorate for another 148.82 TMC. The balance allocation of 60.26 TMC has been kept as a reserve for future projects, evaporation losses etc, the Chief Minister said in a letter submitted to the Union Minister.

He also contended that the additional 1 TMC/day of Kaleshwaram project is not an additional nor a new project, and has only been taken up with state government funds to utilise the 240 TMC allocation made to the Kaleshwara project by the CWC, within a shorter time period, and as such, does not require any approval of the Central government.

“Kandakurthy LIS is a minor scheme serving an ayacut of 3,300 acres and does not require any appraisal. The Ramappa Pakhal Link and Tupakulagudem barrage, which are part of the Devadula Project, do not require any new approval. The Gudem LIS is a part of the approved Kaddam project, constructed to serve the tail end areas and does not need any approval. Finally Kanthanapally, which is non-existent, may also be dropped from the list of unapproved projects,” the letter added.

Rao urged Shekhawat to issue appropriate directions to the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) and the CWC for taking immediate action.