Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday, June 9, flagged off 553 buses to be run under women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and promised to flag off another 3,000 buses in the coming days.
At the event, he also slammed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not appointing a woman president since their inception.
“It has been 45-50 years since the party in power at the Centre (BJP) was formed. Did they ever think of appointing a woman as the party’s president in those 45-50 years? Or, the party in power in the state for 10 years (BRS)? Forget about party leadership. There was no representation for women in the cabinet during their first five years,” he said.
Women in the United States of America, regarded as the most powerful country in the world, had no voting rights for hundreds of years. However, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave voting rights to women soon after Independence, he said.
Taking a veiled dig at former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, he said those punished by women for not paying SHG dues are now “crying in a farmhouse” after losing power.
However, Congress introduced free travel for women in state-run buses, he said.
Also ReadOver 300 crore women passengers avail free bus service in Telangana
The Congress government, since assuming office two and a half years ago, facilitated women SHGs to establish petrol bunks, a major business area usually occupied by big corporates.
Similarly, the government also facilitated solar power generation by the SHGs where “Adani and Ambani” are major players, he said.
The state government has so far provided Rs 61,000 crore in bank linkages to the SHGs, besides releasing Rs 2,000 crore to the bank towards zero-interest loans, he said.
The government would not rest until one crore members of women’s SHGs are made ‘crorepatis’, the chief minister said.
He expressed confidence that the Congress government headed by him will retain power for a second term with the blessings of women.
Under the Mahila Shakti scheme, the government will fund the procurement of buses by the State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) through the Mandal Mahila Samakhyas on a rental basis.
The RTC will repay the cost through monthly EMIs over seven years, after which the ownership of the buses will be transferred to the RTC.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister called for crop diversification by the farmers. Referring to the city receiving the first monsoon showers soon after the buses were flagged off at the event, Revanth Reddy said Lord Varuna, the rain god, blessed the initiative.
Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS.
