KCR's 5 crore bus & 3 crore yagya a cruel joke on Telangana's farmers

QUICK PILL

The crisis

• Telangana is reeling under a drought. Farmers are committing suicide

• State government attributes suicides to lavish marriages and sending kids to private schools

The extravagance

• The state government has purchased a Rs 5 crore bullet proof vanity bus for the CM

• The CM is holding India\'s largest yagya in December

More in the story

• What is KCR doing to provide drought relief?

• How has the government justified its extravagance?

What is worse than a state being affected by a calamity is for it to be led by an apathetic government. This is precisely the ordeal of the people of Telangana.

First, the state has recently been declared drought affected and has sought assistance from the Centre. Second, farmer suicides are rampant in the state. The government is fighting a case in the Hyderabad High Court against a petitioner who claims that 1,347 farmers committed suicide in the state in the last one year, against the government's claims of 342 suicides.

Also read - Terror attack: 50% of India is reeling from drought. Here's the impact at a glance

In its affidavit to the High Court on Friday, the government stated that farmer suicides took place because of lavish marriages and the desire to send children to private schools, among other reasons.

It seems that addressing the farmers' woes doesn't seem to be a priority for the government.

What did it choose to do instead?

A couple of months ago the state's Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao bought himself a Rs 5 crore bullet proof vanity bus.

Rao's modified Mercedez Benz has 12 seats, a conference room, a restroom, and easy stair access from within to the roof, to help him address the people.

And why did he buy the bus?

"A bus is the easiest way for the chief minister to meet with people and move among them," a spokesperson from chief minister's office told a television channel.

He defended the Rs 5 crore spent from the exchequer's wallet by clarifying that the bus wasn't "really a luxury bus. It doesn't even have a bed inside. It only has 12 seats for the staff from the Chief Minister's Office to travel with him and hold meetings while on the move."

KCR is holding India's largest yagya over 5 days, with 5,000 priests and 100 sacred fires

Some say that KCR had come under intense criticism for riding on a chopper for distances as short as three kilometers to lay foundation stones, and this is how he responded. And it's not as if the chief minister of Telangana did not have a vehicle for himself.

He had a cavalcade of government vehicles, which he replaced with two bullet-proof Land Cruiser Prados and five bullet-proof Toyota Fortuners, on which the people of Telangana spent Rs 6.85 crore.

To see the contrast between the fatal financial burden on people of Telangana and the priorities of their government, sample this.

On one side the government, on Tuesday, declared 231 out of 443 rural mandals in the state as drought-affected and sought an immediate assistance of Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre for taking up relief measures.

On the other hand, the government has put all its might in preparing for the mother of all yagyas. From 23 to 27 December, the under the direct supervision of KCR, the government will organise a religious ceremony which will have more than 5,000 priests, 100 homams (sacred fires), five days of non-stop rituals accompanied by the chanting of 700 mantras 10,000 times each.

The cost of Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagnam is expected to be nothing less than Rs 3 crore.

KCR has basically asked the government at the Centre to take care of the his farmers, as they hang themselves one by one, while he's busy preparing for the biggest yagya India has ever seen. And just as the ceremonies end, KCR may find time to thank his people for their generosity from the roof of his Mercedez Benz.

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