Kishan Reddy misleading people on flood relief funds, should apologise: KTR

HYDERABAD: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy is misleading people with wrong calculations on the flood relief to Telangana, said Minister KT Rama Rao.

The TRS working president on Thursday said that the people of Telangana were angry that the central minister was telling lies as usual and did not come in support when they were in trouble. He said that it was unfortunate that a person who did not know the difference between National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) was serving as the Union Minister and trying to deceive the people by reeling out SDRF statistics, which was a constitutional right of the State.

KTR said that Union Minister Kishan Reddy was telling blatant lies to divert people's attention from the Centre's discrimination against Telangana.

KTR wanted Kishan Reddy to disclose what more did Telangana get from the Center except the funds coming to the SDRF, which the state should get constitutionally even if there was no calamity.

He said that it was unfortunate that the Centre had not released the funds due to the State. "The SDRF is one of the ways that Telangana State gets back from the taxes paid to the Centre through various constitutional methods," KTR said.

The minister demanded that Kishan Reddy speak on the additional funds given to Telangana state by the central government through NDRF and asked Kishan Reddy to read the statement made by Union Home Ministry (Minister for State) Nithyanand Rai on the July 19 in the Lok Sabha. He wanted the Union Minister to understand that under Article 280 of the Constitution, the Centre was responsible for allocating SDRF funds to the States through the Finance Commission.

KTR asked the Union Minister of Culture and Tourism to answer whether the statement made by the Union Minister in the Parliament that Telangana state had not received even a single paisa from NDRF funds since 2018 was not true. He demanded an immediate apology from Kishan Reddy who misled the people of his state and insulted the Telangana state government.

The TRS working president reminded that the centre had not released a single rupee requested by the state government when the city of Hyderabad was inundated by flood and unprecedented rains.

He said that the initial damage caused due to recent heavy rains was estimated at Rs 1,400 crores. "If the Center has been asked to provide special NDRF funds to the people of Telangana state, it will only send teams and try to wash their hands," KTR added. He sought an explanation to the people as to what happened to the report prepared by the team sent by the central government after the Hyderabad floods and to explain to the people why the special aid was not given.

Recalling that Prime Minister Modi, who conducted a survey on the floods in Gujarat due to Typhoon Taukte, released special additional assistance of Rs.1,000 crore NDRF in the form of advance in 2021, KTR fumed at the centre that it did not see the hardships of the people of Telangana. He asserted that there was a discriminatory BJP Government in Delhi which was sending teams to states ruled by other parties and sending huge funds to states ruled by BJP.

KTR questioned why the Centre, which had given Rs 15,270 crores to the four states under its rule since 2018, was not giving funds to Telangana. KTR questioned whether it was not true that the Centre had provided additional funds of around Rs. 3,250 crores to Bihar, Rs. 4,530 crores to Madhya Pradesh, Rs. 6,490 crores to Karnataka and 1000 crores to Gujarat since 2018 till now.

"Kishan Reddy who is representing Telangana state and telling lies against the interests of the people of the state should apologise to the people of the state and should try to get additional funds for Telangana, especially through NDRF," KTR said adding that Kishan Reddy would remain in the history as an incompetent minister who did not bring a single penny of aid to his state while being the Union Minister.