Don’t politicise land sales: Harish
TRS govt selling land to fund welfare schemes for poor
Finance minister T. Harish Rao came down heavily on the Congress and the BJP for ‘politicising’ sale of lands by the state government. He said sale of lands by governments was nothing new and was being witnessed in all the states irrespective of whichever party was in power.
Harish Rao reminded that even the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was selling public sector units (PSUs) in the name of divestment and encouraging states to sell their PSUs by offering incentives.
He said that selling government lands and assets was the tradition that was started by the Congress and the BJP governments in the country.
He said that the TRS government was selling land parcels for the benefit of people, to fund welfare schemes for the poor and for other development programmes. Revenue earnings of the state government took a drastic hit due to Covid since March 2020 and the Centre was not extending any financial assistance to states to overcome the Covid crisis.
“In these conditions, we are left with no option but to sell off lands to raise funds for welfare schemes and development programmes. This is the only way out for the government to overcome the Covid financial crisis. The Congress and the BJP want the government to stop welfare schemes for poor and development programmes. That's why they are opposing land sale. We want welfare and development to continue as usual. The poor should not suffer and development of Telangana state should not be hit due to financial crunch. For this reason, the TRS government has decided to sell lands,” Harish remarked while addressing a press conference in Sangareddy on Monday.
He reminded that the previous Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, K. Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy governments of the Congress in undivided AP had sold 85,000 acres between 2004 and 2014, mostly located in and around Hyderabad which commanded huge real estate value for cheaper rates and even diverted funds to Seemandhra He questioned Telangana Congress leaders who are opposing land sale now to answer why they kept mum when Seemandhra Chief Ministers resorted to indiscriminate sale of lands in Hyderabad and neighbouring districts in Telangana.
Taking a dig at the BJP leaders, Harish said, “The TRS government has not burdened people by increasing taxes to raise revenues like the BJP government at the Centre increasing taxes on petrol and diesel. Fuel prices crossed `100 per litre making it unaffordable for the poor and middle class.”
“We didn’t stop a single welfare scheme like Rythu Bandhu, Aasara pensions etc despite the Covid crisis. We are forced to sell lands that are not suitable for public purpose and prone to encroachments to continue welfare and development in Telangana state,” the minister said.