Telangana Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy today said that the state was the most efficient in, and committed to, implementing welfare schemes in the country.
He handed over a total of Rs 11.91 lakh to some eligible beneficiaries of the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) scheme.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said, "The government of Telangana is always ready to provide financial assistance to the poor and needy. CM K Chandrashekar Rao is kind enough to provide such assistance to all people in financial distress. To achieve this, we have introduced several programs. The CMRF itself has become a blessing for the poor of Telangana. No other state in India is implementing such comprehensive welfare schemes."
Reddy then claimed that the KCR regime was spending about Rs 45,000 crore on social welfare works.
Though the government has been quite vocal about its commitment to welfare, the issue of rising unemployment has led many in the Opposition to question the sincerity of this commitment.
Some days ago, YSR Telangana Party founder Y S Sharmila and her party colleagues had
organised a demonstration, in Wanaparthy district, in support of the unemployed youth of Telangana.
During the protest, Sharmila had alleged that KCR was "taking no steps" to fill the vacant posts in the state's government departments despite the "seriousness of the burgeoning problem of unemployment".
Recently, Congress leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy, too, had lashed out at KCR, and had demanded that he
fill all the vacant government posts in the state immediately, asserting that one of the reasons Telangana had been formed was so that the people of the region could have better access to jobs.