The Telangana state cabinet decided on Sunday to sanction Rs 5,000 crores to the chief minister and Rs 25 crores to each minister every year, in order to take up urgent developmental works. Ministers are allowed to instantly spend this fund which is termed as the Special Development Fund (SDF).
Ministers are also allowed to spend the money on developmental works in the districts and on earlier promises made by the government. The cabinet approved the governor’s budget speech which was delivered at the state legislature.
The state cabinet also decided to redesign irrigation projects and construct new barrages.
Few of the other state cabinet resolutions include: installing four lakh closed-circuit television cameras in various locations of Telangana and Hyderabad; constructing four large hospitals in the state; making amendments to the state’s higher education act to facilitate appointments of chancellors and vice-chancellor; and establishing centre-granted 44 national market yards.
The cabinet took crucial decisions on the state’s prestigious projects: Mission Bhagiratha and the housing scheme for the poor. The three-and-a-half-hour meeting, presided by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, resulted in the decision to construct two-bedroom houses statewide under the housing scheme for the poor.
The government is to stand guarantor for a NABARD loan of Rs 15,000 for Mission Bhagiratha which is the state’s water grid scheme. The cabinet also resolved to install one lakh CCTV cameras in Hyderabad city alone to help improve law and order in the city.
