The Telangana state legislative Assembly sat for more than nine hours on Monday to debate 16 important demands and approve them by a voice vote. Unlike in the earlier sessions, there was a healthy debate and 10 ministers gave detailed replies.
At the end of the day’s session, legislative affairs minister T Harish Rao said that a healthy debate took place in the House for the first time unlike in the united AP Assembly. “Without the presence of the opposition party, the AP Assembly is being conducted like a Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) meeting. We are conducting business till late in the night in Telangana,” Harish Rao said while comparing the TS Assembly with AP’s. The following are the subjects and the replies given by the ministers during the debate:
Metro Rail
There should not be any doubt about the implementation of Hyderabad Metro Rail. The aligment will be changed only after consulting the MPs and MLAs concerned. Metro rail will be launched ahead of its schedule in 2017. Hyderabad will get 45 million gallons of water per day from the first week of April and another 45 MGD in the first week of July under Krishna phase-3. Hyderabad will get another 172 MGD from September under Godavari first phase, said R&B minister Tummala Nageswara Rao.
Power Supply
There will be no power cuts in the state during summer. The government is placing short-term and long-term tenders to procure power, said power minister G Jagadish Reddy.
No VAT Hike
There is no proposal to increase VAT or any other tax. The tax on diesel and petrol was increased only after the Centre had done it, said commercial taxes minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav.
Source: The New Indian Express