The State government has decided to sanction new pensions one month from now.
The eligible will be given enough time to apply. There were 8,690 Gram Panchayats in Telangana in the past but now there are 12,760. A total of 3,146 hamlets were upgraded as Gram Panchayats at one stroke by the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as he promised during the separate Telangana movement.
The honorarium being paid to the local body elected representatives is high in Telangana compared to BJP ruled states in the country.
The very face of Gram Panchayats was changed after the formation of Telangana state. Spending Rs 67.40 crore, the State government set up Prakruti Vanam (Parks) in 13,650 villages.
Mr Dayakar Rao pointed out that the Congress government spent Rs 12,173 crore but the Telangana government spent Rs 58,309 crore in seven years in addition to Mission Bagiratha budget.
With the initiative of chief minister Mr K Chandrasekhar Rao, awareness was created among people in villages on sanitation and greenery. Every Gram Panchayat was given a tractor, water tanker, and other equipment for maintenance of villages.
By Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao