Telangana: Highlights of Cabinet Meeting

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Cabinet has decided to conduct digital classes for school children following the guidelines of the central government and by making use of Doordarshan for the purpose. The state cabinet had also approved the construction of a new secretariat building and its designs on Wednesday, August 5. The new secretariat would come up in an area of seven lakh sq ft and a budget of Rs 400 crore. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art connectivity and other features.

The Telangana cabinet which held a crucial meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhara Rao ( KCR) at Pragati Bhavan on Wednesday has taken several key decisions. CM KCR approved Telangana State Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Solution Policy which would promote use of electrical vehicles to reduce air pollution and the state cabinet announced several incentives for the purpose.

The cabinet discussed the prevailing situation in the state in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, and directed the officials to conduct about 40,000 tests every day. After discussing with experts and doctors for over two hours, he urged people not to panic about COVID-19 and assured the public that the government is ready to provide treatment to any number of patients.

The cabinet urged people of the state not to spend their money for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals as the government hospitals are equipped with all the medical facilities required to treat the patients. The cabinet has decided to make medicines like Remedesivir, Dexamethasone, Favipiravir, other drugs, PPE kits and test kits available in all the government hospitals.

The cabinet decided to give incentives to the industries which would provide more job opportunities to the locals. The cabinet also decided to promote IT industries not just in Hyderabad but across the state. The cabinet approved a Grid policy which will provide incentives to IT companies being set up in areas other than the West Zone of Hyderabad.

The Cabinet decided to increase agro-based industries in the state with the aim of making agriculture profitable and increasing large-scale employment opportunities. The cabinet approved the proposal of the CM to set up food processing units across the state for this purpose. The cabinet decided to make a special policy for the welfare of workers from other states who were working in the state.

The Cabinet also approved bPAS policy which would simplify building permits.  

The Cabinet also directed the municipalities, gram panchayats and government offices to pay their electricity bills regularly every month and warned of strict action against any deviation. The cabinet had also decided to facilitate payment of arrears of old electricity bills of Gram Panchayats and Municipalities through one time settlement.

There was also renaming of several barrages. The Telangana Cabinet named Dummugudem Barrage as Seethamma Sagar, Baswapur Reservoir as Narasimha Swamy Reservoir, Tupakula Gudem Barrage as Sammakka Barrage.

The Cabinet also discussed making agriculture profitable in the state. According to agriculture department officials, 1.13 crore acres have been planted by following a regulated crop system and another 10–12 lakh acres are to be planted and 8.65 lakh acres used for growing orchards.