Hyderabad: Former Minister and BRS MLA Harish Rao on Sunday predicted that Telangana would soon echo with the slogan “No LRS, No Congress.” He accused the state government of failing to release funds to municipalities.
Speaking during the Assembly debate on a bill to form new municipalities, he said development was more important than numbers. “Are we giving funds or not? There is no money even for fogging,” he remarked. Rao alleged that unlike the BRS, which released urban development funds every month, the Congress had not released any since coming to power.
Harish Rao demands clarity on LRS funds
Rao said the state Finance Commission had withheld funds because municipal elections were pending. He recalled that the BRS government introduced the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) and earmarked a portion of collections for municipal development. “This Congress government must tell us when it will release LRS funds. The amount collected should be disclosed,” he demanded.
He also said revenues from stamps and registration were not reaching municipalities. “How will they function without funds?” he asked. Rao pointed out that municipalities lacked commissioners, engineers and sanitary inspectors. He urged the government to recruit staff for new municipal bodies.
The former minister also recalled that former CM K. Chandrashekar Rao sanctioned ₹50 crore under the Special Development Fund (SDF) for Patancheru, Sangareddy and Zaheerabad. He alleged that the Congress government cancelled those allocations.
