‘Modi owes apology to Telangana tribal people for not keeping promises’

‘Modi owes apology to Telangana tribal people for not keeping promises’

Minister for IT, Industries and Urban Development and president of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) K.T. Rama Rao has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to people of Telangana for betraying the tribal people of the State by not keeping the promises made to them in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

Speaking after launching distribution of podu land (recognition of forest rights - RoFR) pattas to tribal communities at Mahabubabad on Friday, he said the Central Government led by Narendra Modi had failed to keep its promise of establishing a tribal university, an integrated steel plant at Bayyaram and railway coach factory at Kazipet even after nine years.

A large number of tribal people would have secured jobs in the tribal university, steel plant and railway coach factory. Mr. Modi had reiterated in Parliament that the Centre would establish a tribal university. The State Government had allotted 360 acres of land in Mulugu district and submitted documents to the Centre but it had failed to take it forward so far.

Mr. Rama Rao pointed out that after promising a coach factory, the Centre was talking about railway wagon overhauling facility as the coach factory was taken away to Gujarat with an investment of ₹21,000 crore. Citing it as one of the examples of step-motherly treatment given to Telangana by the Centre, Mr. Rama Rao said it was a grave injustice and sought to know how it would justify the act.

The BRS working president observed that the Prime Minister owed an apology to Telangana people, particularly tribal communities, for not keeping the promises made to them and asked him to explain people during his forthcoming visit to Warangal as to why the Centre had deceived them.

Referring indirectly to the comments reportedly made by Congress Legislature Party leader M. Bhatti Vikramarka during his ongoing padayatra, Mr. Rama Rao asked the former to introspect why even small works such as laying internal roads and drain were not taken up during the 50-year rule by the Congress. He asked people not to get deceived by tall promises being made by Congress keeping in mind its history of not keeping them.

Earlier, Mr. Rama Rao along with Ministers Satyavathi Rathod and Errabelli Dayakar Rao inaugurated development works including integrated veg, non-veg, fruit and flower market at Manukota and distributed documents of double-bedroom houses constructed at Gummadur to 200 beneficiaries. They also launched distribution of pattas to a total of 24,181 tribal (podu farmers) families for 67,730 acres forest lands. MP. Maloth Kavitha, MLAs B. Shankar Naik, D.S. Redya Naik, MLC T. Ravinder Rao and others participated.