Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday ruled out imposition of lockdown in the State under any circumstances and asserted that the State government would not take any hasty steps in efforts to curb COVID 19.
In his reply to the debate on Appropriation Bill in the Assembly, Mr. Rao said there would be no more lockdown or closure of industries. The government would take all steps to check the spread of infection. He appealed to the public not to panic on reports of lockdown while assuring them that the government would keep a watch on the situation till May.
Narrating the appreciation received by government that the State was one of the best performers in checking COVID 19, Mr. Rao recalled that even the decision to close down schools and colleges was taken with pain but it was a temporary measure. About 10.85 lakh people had been vaccinated in the State so far and the rest of the programme was in Cetnre’s hands. In this context, he expressed the hope that the State would receive its share of vaccine doses as the Centre was distributing them proportionately all over the country.
The direct and indirect loss of revenue to the State government was ₹1 lakh crore on account of COVID.
Mr. Rao announced several initiatives to continue developmental programmes despite the coronavirus. One of them was completion of all irrigation and infrastructure projects.
The next one year would see establishment of vegetarian and non-vegetarian markets in all the 141 municipalities of the State. The Chief Minister Dalit Empowerment Programme with a budget of ₹ 1,000 crore which was announced in the present budget will be implemented in addition to the SC sub-plan.
The Junior Panchayat Secretaries who were recruited two years ago and were working on probation would get salaries equal to regular Panchayat Secretaries from next month but their probation period wuill be increased from three to four years.
At the back of hike in salaries for government employees recently, Mr. Rao announced the same for road transport corporation staff also. The government will also implement the TRS promise of unemployment allowance. It could not be done earlier due to COVID. The government was studying models in other States to identify unemployed.
On problems faced by Scheduled Castes to transfer assigned lands, Mr. Rao said the government would consider why not give all rights to assignees in the matter. He recalled that the SCs were not able to sell their lands and as a result the big real estate sharks knocked them off. So, some decision involving all parties will be taken and, if need be, the law would also be changed.
