Telangana, the youngest State of Indian union, on Thursday celebrated its second anniversary with a lots of colour, pomp and style as the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao assured the people that his two-year-old Government was moving fast towards the goal of the “Golden Telangana”.
Hoisting of country’s biggest national flag in Hyderabad and laying a foundation stone for the memorial of those who laid their lives during the six decades long struggle for separate Telangana State and announcement of creating 15 new districts by redrawing the State’s map marked the day.
KCR, as the Chief Minister is well known, said that during the first two years the Government strove hard to solve the problems of the people and lay a strong foundation of the State to build a secure and bright future of the State.
After holding the ceremonial parade at the Secunderabad Parade Grounds and taking the salute from various police contingents in the presence of his Cabinet colleagues and top officials, the Chief Minister revealed his road map for the coming years.
Faster economic growth and increasing the State budget to Rs 5 lakh crore by year 2024, irrigating 1 crore acres by 2022 and hundred per cent literacy in the near future were some of the important targets KCR set before the administration and the people.
"Telangana movement was a fire born out of water", KCR said quoting the famous Telangana ideologue Prof Jayashankar emphasising that the crores of people of the region struggled for the water and other natural and financial resources for decades.
Paying emotional tributes to the people who laid down their lives for Telangan State, he said that the people of Telangana were indebted to them.
"We have already given appointment letters of Government jobs to the families of 598 martyrs", he said.
In a sharp attack on the decades long Governments of united Andhra Pradesh dominated by Andhra people, KCR said, "In the united Andhra Pradesh we had to beg for every single rupee but now we are utilising our own resources on our own development".
Expressing his satisfaction over the pace of development and progress over the last years, the Chief Minister said that his government was working hard to fulfill the aspirations and dreams of the people.
KCR said that in the united AP era Telangana was neglected and it lagged behind in every field including education. "But in a few years we will become a hundred percent literate state", he said. The State Government has started 250 residential schools for the scheduled castes, tribes and the minorities and emphasis was being laid on providing quality education and skill upgradation.
He said his dream was that no woman should walk on the roads looking for drinking water. "By the end of 2018 hundred percent villages of the state will get safe drinking water through the Mission Bhagirath", he said.
He also criticised neighboring Andhra Pradesh over sharing river waters saying for decades Andhra rulers had diverted Telangana's share of river waters to Andhra by neglecting the irrigation projects.
"Despite having rivers Krishna and Godavari and Kakatiya canal Telangana has suffered so much for water
Because of the neglect of the rulers of united Andhra Pradesh canals of Kakatiya era had dried up and destroyed but the Telangana Government has now launched Mission Kakatiya to restore them, he said.
"Even now inter-State disputes and environmental issues were being raised to create obstacles in our path but we have re designed our projects to ensure irrigation for one crore acres", he said.
Assembly speaker Madhusudhan Chary and several Ministers and legislators were also present.
In the morning KCR paid floral tributes to the Telangana movement Martyrs at the Gun Park memorial
In the afternoon at an impressive official function at the Hyderabad International Convention Center the Chief Minister KCR presented awards to the prominent activists, artists, writers, journalists and other noted personalities.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that the dream of Telangana became a reality because of the struggle of crores of people. For the last two years the state was moving on the path of development its growth rate was faster than the national average "With this rate of growth the state budget will reach Rs 200,000 crore by 2019-20 and Rs 500,000 crore by year 2024.
With the formation of Telangna State our problems of resource crunch have come to an end", he said.