Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao addressed a gathering of several journalists’ organisations at Jal Vihar.
Speaking on the occasion, he promised the scribe community that the TRS government would soon provide house sites to all of them. He also assured them that the government would work towards providing better healthcare facilities to the their dependents.
"While there have been some technical delays and some lags in the release of funds that have stalled the issuing of health cards, we will soon address the issue," KTR said.
He then handed over cheques providing financial assistance to ailing journalists and to the kin of deceased ones. While Rs 1 lakh each was given to 11 families of deceased scribes, Rs 50,000 each was given to 18 ailing journalists.
Saying that the TRS recognised the pivotal role played by the journalists in the Telangana agitation, Rao reiterated his promise that the ruling party would soon "sort out" the issues being faced by the state's scribes. He also promised them that the government would soon initiate the works for a new press academy would soon be initiated so that they could update and hone their journalistic skills".
The minister then directed the concerned officials of the Telangana Press Academy to get the details of the children of deceased scribes, and to ensure they were provided state-sponsored education.
"If the legal guardians of the children agree, they will be enrolled into residential schools and all their educational needs will be taken care of by the government," Rao said.
However, during the meeting, KTR also took a dig at some newspapers and news channels for highlighting the TRS'
failure to clinch the Dubbaka seat in last year's by-election, and its
fall in vote share in the GHMC elections.
Launching a tirade against state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar and TPCC head N Uttam Kumar Reddy for their "derogatory remarks" against Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the state government, he accused them of trying to "mislead" people with their false claims.
The leader also flayed the TRS' rivals for blaming the party for its failure to work for the welfare of the people, and claimed, "The TRS government has always prioritised welfare. We gave accreditation cards to more than 19,500 journalists. We also set up a welfare fund of Rs 100 crore for the fraternity, and issued health cards to 61,500 journalists in the state. The BJP and the Congress are trying to defame us for no reason."
He then appealed to the journalists to cast their votes carefully in the upcoming MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies, and urged them to support the "progressive rule" of the TRS.
Press Academy Chairman Allam Narayana, MLA and journalist Kranthi Kiran and other leaders of the journalists' association were also present for the meeting.