Union Minister G Kishan Reddy today held a Basti Baata (colony visit) program in Hyderabad.
He visited various colonies in Begumpet and Old Patigadda Basti to find out the problems of the residents and solve them.
Interacting with the people, he promised to resolve their issues. He said that over 30% of the population of Telangana was in Hyderabad, and that while former CM K Chandrashekar Rao and his son K T Rama Rao had campaigned that their BRS government had developed Hyderabad and made it an international city, they had developed only the areas where there were rich people, like Hi-Tech City and Jubilee Hills.
"In the past, we repeatedly reminded KTR to get off the main roads and tour the bastis. Yet he never cared about the bastis. As the previous government neglected the bastis inhabited by poor people, they are suffering from a lack of roads, street lights, drainage facilities and basic amenities. There are also no skill development centres for women. And public schools have become completely unusable due to the old buildings," he said.
He lamented that the present Congress government was also following in the footsteps of the BRS government.
He said that houses constructed some 15 years ago in Patigadda Colony had not been given to the poor so far, and also that the previous BRS government and the present Congress government were yet to select the beneficiaries of the houses constructed for the poor in many parts of Hyderabad in the past.
"At least now, the beneficiaries of the houses should be selected and houses should be allotted to them. And many of the bastis still do not have electricity connections. I demand that if the Congress government is sincere towards the poor, it should work for the benefit of the poor," he said.