KCR's excesses
There is always a sense of excess when Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao comes into picture. On Tuesday, he drove to some village and did not much care for the potholes and immediately ordered all of them to be repaired by the end of the month. The denizens of Telangana wait with bated breath, for it has been three years since a single pot hole has been repaired.
A shot in the arm for electricity department
It would really seem that KCR is preparing for the 2019 elections. The electricity department just got a jolt with KCR waking up suddenly and allowing the appointment of a record number of 13,357 employees, from linemen to executive directors. Along with this unheard of recruitment drive, 10,000 employees will also be promoted. This department has been waiting for a long time, in fact from 2012.
KCR's explanation for this 'shocking' decision was that power sector in Telangana was doing very well and they needed employees to fill up vacancies. He added that Telangana had become power-deficient to a power-surplus state.
Aasara pension scheme to start disbursement
Meanwhile, the Aasara pension scheme that he had announced some time back will start its disbursement from June 2, the state formation day. Apparently, the beneficiaries under this scheme are close to 40 lakh, the highest in the country with over three lakh single women and 80,000 beedi workers. Single women and beedi workers have to enrol their names to get financial assistance of Rs 1,000 per month under the Aasara Pension Scheme. A budget outlay of Rs. 5,000 crores has been sanctioned and an additional Rs. 500 crores has been earmarked for single women and beedi workers' pensions. The Aasara Pension Scheme now accounts for over 10 per cent of the State’s population of about 3.51 crore.
The guidelines say that women who are 18 years of age and have been separated from their husbands or whose husbands had deserted them for over a year are eligible for pension. Besides, unmarried women who are above 30 years in rural areas and 35 years in urban areas are also eligible for the single women pension.
Push for tourism
And the 'excess' mode is touching some departments too. The promotion of Kabali movie started it and it is now being picked up by the tourism department of Telangana state. A SpiceJet, a Boeing 737-800 was unveiled with great fanfare to reveal that the jet had been branded `Telangana Tourism' with all the famous tourist places embossed with lively colours on it. For a state, it is definitely a unique effort.
Looks like the tourism department has taken over the jet, for even the interiors, seat backs and cabin bulk heads at both the entry and exit locations have information about Telangana tourism. This fanfare is only for two months on an experimental basis but will be renewed if people show interest. At Rs. 25,00,000 per month, the tourism department has to be careful. And in order to promote tourism in Telangana, this aircraft will travel to different Indian cities and also places like Muscat and Abu Dhabi and apparently will make a minimum of 8-10 flights per day.
And looks like this investment will have to work for Telangana, because as per the figures tabled in the Rajya Sabha, among the states in the country, Andhra Pradesh stood third, while Telangana came a distant 30. People, it would seem, are unaware of the tourist spots in Telangana. So, now the tourism department has done 12 road shows and have also got themselves a fancy jet.
