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Telangana chief minister KCR in Delhi, calls on PM Modi, Amit Shah
KCR, as the chief minister is known, had a half-an-hour meeting with the PM and is reported to have discussed all pending issues with the Centre.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and requested him to release funds due to the state. He also urged the PM to help with the financial assistance to the state government towards flood-relief work in the rain-ravaged areas of Hyderabad.
KCR, as the chief minister is known, had a half-an-hour meeting with the PM and is reported to have discussed all pending issues with the Centre. The meeting between the two comes after a gap of more than 14 months – the last time the meeting took place was on October 4, 2019.
Unlike in the past, there was no official release from the chief minister’s office this time, but a Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader familiar with the development said it was purely an official meeting without any political significance.
“The chief minister explained to the Prime Minister how the state’s economy had suffered heavily due to Covid-19 pandemic and how Hyderabad suffered heavy damages during the recent heavy rain and flash floods,” the TRS leader said.
The chief minister requested the PM to release additional grants to the state to take up restoration works in flood-hit Hyderabad, besides GST compensation and funds due to the state under finance commission devolutions.
He also reiterated the demands for granting national project status to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme on Godavari river, besides central assistance to Dindi and Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift schemes on Krishna river.
In the afternoon, KCR met civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and requested him to approve the establishment of five more airports in Telangana. He appealed to the minister to help the state finalise the sites apart from getting all statutory clearances on a single-window basis for the airports.
In his representation to Puri, the chief minister said that once the statutory clearances were given, the state government can commence the infrastructure work at the earliest for starting the non-scheduled operator’s permit (NSOP) operations with its own funds.
KCR, who landed in New Delhi on Friday evening, met Union home minister Amit Shah the same day and requested him to release adequate financial assistance for modernisation of police forces. He also explained how the state capital had witnessed heavy damages during the recent floods.
Earlier, the chief minister also called on Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat to explain the state government’s stand on Krishna river projects.
On Sunday, the TRS chief would visit the site allocated by the Central government for construction of the party office in New Delhi.
