Telangana BC Commission begins public hearings as part of caste survey

Hyderabad: The Telangana Commission for Backward Classes on Monday held its first public hearing at Adilabad to receive representations from interested parties as part of the process to conduct the caste survey across the state.

Commission Chairman G Niranjan said the public hearing has been convened to receive suggestions and other representations from public representatives, caste organisations and other stakeholders.

The panel had on October 18 issued a notification for holding public hearings.

The public hearings would be conducted in the headquarters of 10 undivided districts -- covering all the 33 districts in the state.

The panel will also hold public hearings in its office in Hyderabad on November 12 exclusively for NGOs, and caste/welfare associations and on November 13 for the general public.

As per the decision taken at a meeting held by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the deadline for submitting the data is December 9.

The commission would recommend the percentage of reservations for backward classes in local bodies based on the data.

The survey is expected to commence in the state from November 4-5 and it is likely to be completed by November 30, state BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has said.

Speaking after a meeting of the state cabinet, he said the exercise is being taken up in line with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's commitment to conduct a caste survey in the state as well as across the nation.

According to the government, 80,000 government employees will be roped in for conducting the survey and they will be appropriately trained for it.