CM Revanth Reddy: Group 1 age limit raised to 46 years; 15,000 police posts to be filled soon

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday said that the people of Telangana dethroned the Bharat Rashtra Samithi from power as it had utterly failed in fulfilling the aspirations of the people in its decade-rule in the state.

Replying to the Motion of Thanks on the Governor’s address in the Telangana Legislative State Assembly, Revanth Reddy said, “People of Telangana have entrusted the task of opposition to the BRS in the state. It is very unfortunate that the leader of the opposition and former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was not present in the ongoing Assembly budget sessions. I am appealing to KCR to attend the sessions and provide his expertise to the newly formed government.”

Six guarantees

Highlighting the initiatives taken by the Congress government in the last 60 days, the chief minister said that the government had successfully implemented the free bus travel for women under the Mahalakshmi scheme and enhanced the Aarogyasri limit to Rs 10 lakhs.

“We are administering a transparent rule in the state, despite a lack of support from the opposition. We have highlighted the major aspects in the Governor’s speech. But, the BRS MLAs are criticising us, which is highly deplorable,” he said.

‘People wanted TG, KCR chose TS’

“We believe democracy should not tolerate monarchy. Amidst the agitation in Telangana, several young people got TG tattoos on their hands and switched their vehicle registration boards with TG from AP. Even after Telangana was formed, the Centre notified TG about car registrations. Nevertheless, for numerological considerations, KCR chose ‘TS’ as the state abbreviation. We’ll follow the people’s wishes and start using ‘TG’ as an acronym,” Revanth Reddy declared.

The chief minister also presented his views about the official state insignia, saying that it has allusions to royalty.

“Telangana thalli ought to look like our sister and mother. The ladies of the state never wore crowns on their heads and waistbands. It ought to reflect all of their efforts. Many of us think that Jaya Jaya Jai Telangana will be declared the state song soon after the state is formed. Still, the BRS even attempted to have the song banned. The poet Ande Sri’s ‘Jaya he Telangana’ has been designated as the state song by the Cabinet,” Revanth Reddy said.

Age limit for Group-I posts increased to 46 years

Revanth Reddy announced that the State Government will enhance the age limit for Group-I posts to 46 years and conduct the examination shortly. The previous age limit was between 18 and 44 years, he added.

“Due to some guidelines, there is a delay in revamping the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC). The Opposition is speaking about 2 lakh jobs as four of them lost their jobs after the elections. Our government will not recruit the vacant posts by making question papers available at the Xerox centres or sell the posts to those having acquaintance in various government departments,” he said.

The chief minister said that scores of youths are eagerly waiting for the recruitment in the police department. Soon, a recruitment drive will be conducted to fill over 15,000 posts in the police department, he said and added that the government will also fill vacancies in Universities.

‘Mahalakshmi scheme increased revenue in temples’

Revanth Reddy explained the income statistics, stating that a majority of Telangana’s women had chosen to travel to the temples via free TSRTC bus transportation. The endowments department’s revenue in November 2023 was Rs 49.28 crores.

“Following the introduction of free bus transportation for women in December, several women visited the temples in Yadadri, Gadwal Jogulamba, and Bhadrachalam. It is a positive indication for the state as the endowments department’s revenue collections were Rs 93.24 crores in December and Rs 68.69 crores in January 2024,” he said.

Revanth dismisses Opposition charges on Rythu Bandhu

Dismissing the charges of the Opposition on Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers, the chief minister said that the earlier BRS government had taken almost nine months to credit the Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers. Unnecessarily, the BRS leaders are provoking the newly formed Congress government on Rythu Bandhu, he said.

Govt employees salaries deposited on first of every month

The chief minister said that during the previous BRS regime, salaries were delayed and were paid in a phased manner till third week of every month, causing several hardships to employees. Considering the plight of the employees, the newly formed Congress government had deposited the salaries for government employees on first of every month and claimed that there government is employee friendly.

‘BRS supported Jagan on Nagarjuna Sagar project’

Launching a scathing attack on the BRS leaders, Revanth Reddy said that the previous government gave its total support to Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to occupy the Nagarjuna Sagar project.

He criticised KCR for being a ‘mute spectator’ even as Jagan tried to draw 12 TMCs of water per day from Srisailam. “It was KCR who gave his consent to AP to draw 512 TMCs of water in Krishna River out of the 811 TMCs and 299 TMCs to Telangana which is a huge loss to the state,” he said.

The chief minister said that till 2014, around 30 km of tunnel was dug for the Srisailam Left Back Canal (SLBC) project. The BRS in its decade-long rule in the state had dug only 1.5 km, he said and added that the previous government also failed in completing Kalwakurthy, Koyal Sagar and Bhim Sagar projects in the state.

Allow for discussion on Krishna River water sharing

During his speech, Revanth Reddy also urged speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to allow a discussion on Krishna River water sharing during the ongoing Assembly budget sessions on Monday. He also asked the speaker to permit the government in taking all the 119 MLAs and 40 MLCs on a tour to Medigadda on Tuesday to take stock of the ground reality.

Taking potshots at the BRS for planning to conduct a public meeting at Nalgonda on Tuesday, the chief minister suggested the Opposition party leaders to protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to get noticed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said and added that the state government would make all necessary arrangements in this regard till the 'BRS turn martyrs'.