Govt committed to caste census, asserts Revanth

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said on Wednesday that the government would take steps on the caste census of BCs after appointing the new chairman to the BC Commission, as the term of the chairman ends on August 31. Reddy made the comments during an informal interaction with reporters at the Secretariat.

He said the government would start the process for the panchayat elections once the voter list is submitted. ‘There is no risk of losing the Finance Commission funds as of now. The Centre has sent the voter list a fortnight back. There will be a process of identification of ward, population, and reservations’, said Reddy.

The CM said the new Osmania Hospital will come up at Goshamahal Stadium, adding the decision was taken after considering various factors. Whatever facilities are available at Goshamahal will be shifted near the Osmania Hospital.

Replying to a question, he said the government is opposed to the Wakf Bill. The government will allow the CBI after seeing the merits of the case. He said the government would decide on leasing the ORR after getting a report from officials.

Reiterating that the farm loan waiver was done as promised, Reddy said the government waived off loans of 22,37,349 accounts of farmers and transferred Rs 17,933 crore. Some BRS leaders had availed of the waiver benefit. Gampa Goverdhan availed a loan waiver of Rs 1.61 lakh. For loans above Rs 2 lakh, farmers will have to pay the remaining amount and then claim the waiver benefit.

He disclosed that the loan waiver by the BRS government from 2018 to 2023 benefited 23,61,899 accounts, transferring Rs 13,329 crore. “More or less, we are matching the BRS government. There will be about eight-nine lakh more accounts that have more than Rs 2 lakh; for this, the government has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore. The government has already allotted Rs 31,000 crore in the budget; none had waived this much in a single attempt, he asserted.