As Mission Bhagiratha bagged the top spot under the Jal Jeevan Mission, KTR reminded the Centre it did not release funds for the scheme.
Both KTR and Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao in the past have been vocal about Centre taking credit of State government's launched 'Mission Bhagiratha'. (Gajendra Singh Shekhawat/Twitter)
As the Mission Bhagiratha scheme of Telangana on Wednesday, 29 September, was bestowed with another Union government award, the state’s IT and Urban Minister KT Rama Rao again reignited the debate over the Centre not allotting ₹19,025 crore for the project.
In a message posted on Twitter, the TRS leader said, “Telangana’s flagship “Mission Bhagiratha” wins national award for providing safe drinking water to all rural households. Thanks for the recognition but it would be befitting if the NDA Govt can honour the recommendation of NITI Aayog to grant ₹19,000 Cr to this pioneering project. [sic]”
TRS member Putta Vishnu Vardhan Reddy told South First: “Under the Centre’s Jal Jeevan mission scheme, BJP-ruled states received thousands of crores, but Telangana received a meagre of ₹311 crore, which is just 0.7 percent of the ₹45,000 crore that the state government spent on Mission Bhagiratha.”
He also alleged that this was the case with most of the schemes initiated by the Telangana government.
This comes a day after the Mission Bhagiratha, launched in 2016, was selected for the award in the “Regularity” category under the Jal Jeevan mission.
The scheme provides purified drinking water in Telangana to every household through taps.
The Union government has invited Telangana to receive the award in Delhi on 2 October, Gandhi Jayanti.
Responding to a question in Parliament in 2019, the then Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal shared that the NITI Aayog asked the Central government to consider the ₹19,025 crore requested by the Telangana government for its water scheme.
He added that the Ministry of Finance, however, denied the funding for the scheme from the “special assistance” head.
The ministry is also said to have asserted that the management and development of water resources are funded, planned and executed by state governments from their resources.
Before the BJP answers their scripted line “ No proposals were sent “ ,
This is the Parliament statement which clearly explains Telangana seeking grant as well as Niti Aayog also recommending Fund allocation to Mission Bhagiratha which was ignored by Government of India 👇🏾👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/MwzKpFGsR6— Krishank (@Krishank_BRS) March 31, 2022
Both KTR and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao have been vocal about Centre usurping credit for the state government’s Mission Bhagiratha.
In March this year, KTR, who is also the TRS working president, took strong objection to the Centre taking credit for providing drinking water supply to every household in Telangana as part of its campaign on Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal (water in every house).
KTR’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mahesh Manikya told South First, “Around ₹19,000 crore was recommended by the NITI Aayog in 2016.”
He added that apart from this, the Union government, since 2014, owes dues to almost each and every department of the Telangana government.
“The Central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission, started in 2019, is inspired from Telangana’s Mission Bhagiratha, which we started three years earlier in 2016,” Putta Reddy said.
The TRS has often accused the Centre of “copying” its schemes.
Apart from Mission Bhagiratha, TRS ministers have contended that the Amrit Sarovar project of the Centre was a replica of Mission Kakatiya, while the Rythu Bandhu was being implemented as the PM Kisan Samman Yojana. “Telangana has been a role model for the country in several other schemes,” Minister Harish Rao was recently quoted as saying.
Alleging that the Union government played politics over the economics of the state, he added: “When NITI Aayog officials visited Telangana, they liked found that the state government’s vision needed to be supported. This is the same NITI Aayog set up by the prime minister, replacing the Planning Commission.”
Citing an example of devolution of funds, Reddy said, “For every ₹1 that Telangana sends to Centre in taxes, it receives 46 paise in return, whereas for every ₹1 that Uttar Pradesh sends to Centre, it receives double the amount: ₹2.”
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