Country not moving on path of progress: KCR

Hyderabad, May 18: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday lamented that the country is not moving on the path of progress. He noted that many villages and urban bodies are still struggling with lack of power supply and people are living in darkness. 
People are taking to the streets for drinking water and irrigation water needs and expected growth in education and employment has not been registered.  The Union government is not concentrating on such important issues and instead interfering in the state affairs, he said. 
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, was addressing a review meeting attended by cabinet colleagues and top officials to discuss various issues.  He criticised the system being followed by the Centre since the launch of a 3- tier Panchayat Raj system in the country to transfer funds to the villages directly without trusting the state government.  He found fault with the transfer of funds under Jawahar Rojgar yojana, PM Gram Sadak yojana, Employment scheme (NREGA) etc to the local bodies directly from Delhi.  The states are only well-informed about the local issues. It is not a good practice to distribute money to the daily labourers directly by the Central government from New Delhi, he said.  
The chief minister said that Telangana is top among states mainly the Prime Minister's home state Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in crop production and per capita income.  He pointed out that after Telangana state was formed, some people ridiculed the decisions and the priorities given by the state. They also mocked at conducting a review on the forest department and protection of forests by the state government.  He claimed that today Telangana stands number one in improving green cover and also environmental protection. 
The chief minister also stated that Telangana is the first state which has introduced the Green Fund concept.  All the people's representatives and officials are contributing Rs 100 to Rs 500 every month to the fund. It is also mandatory that 10 per cent of the funds in the local bodies are earmarked for Haritha Haram.  
The Mission Bhagiratha scheme helped to streamline the drinking water system which was in the state of collapse. Except Telangana, there is no other state in the country which is supplying drinking water to every household, he said.  KCR said several national television channels telecast programmes on the achievements and growth registered in Telangana. "Many states were surprised and they started calling on phone and enquired about the development in the new state . We achieved unprecedented growth in a short time," he said.  
The chief minister said that the demand to introduce Telangana schemes like round the clock power supply and free power to agriculture to farming is growing in other states.  People from Raichur in Karnataka are demanding their BJP MLA to implement Telangana schemes in their constituency or merge their Assembly constituency with Telangana. KCR expressed happiness over Palle Pragati and Pattana Pragati programmes of Telangana getting nationwide applause.  
The programmes are aimed at improving the quality of life in rural and urban areas respectively. It is also a proud moment that under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, Telangana villages clinched 10 out of 10 awards in the first phase and 19 Telangana out of 20 in the second round, he said. IANS