Hyderabad: Deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka on Sunday announced that a ₹5 lakh insurance scheme for 1.15 crore families in the state will be launched on June 2, marking Telangana Formation Day.Named ‘Indiramma Bima’, the scheme will provide ₹5 lakh compensation to families in the event of the accidental death of the head of the household.“Officials will soon visit every household to collect details of the family head as part of the initiative, which is a Telangana Formation Day gift to 1.15 crore families. The scheme will serve as a protective shield for families, irrespective of caste, religion or economic status,” Bhatti said.Criticising the previous BRS govt, the deputy CM said that families of farmers who died by suicide were forced to struggle even for basic financial assistance. To prevent such hardship, the present govt has decided to extend insurance protection to families affected by accidental deaths.Bhatti said the govt’s objective was not only to support women through welfare measures but also to empower them as entrepreneurs. In line with this, he announced that a programme to allot solar power plants to women’s self-help groups would be launched on May 27 at Rajupalem village in Yerrupalem mandal of Madhira assembly constituency in the erstwhile Khammam district.He said the Congress govt was implementing all promises made during the elections and ensuring welfare benefits reached the poor directly. The state was also extending interest-free loans worth ₹20,000 crore annually to women’s groups, with plans to scale this up to ₹1 lakh crore.“Women are already travelling free in RTC buses across the state. Soon, 550 dedicated RTC buses will be allocated exclusively for women entrepreneurs. The govt aims to create one crore women millionaires,” he said.Bhatti stated that the state was supplying premium fine rice, priced at ₹50–₹55 per kg in the open market, free of cost to 1.06 crore ration card-holding families. Each beneficiary receives 6 kg of fine rice through fair price shops under the public distribution system. Under the Gruha Jyothi scheme, free electricity up to 200 units is being provided to 53 lakh households, with many villages reportedly seeing nearly 95% of consumers receiving zero power bills.Accusing the previous BRS regime of failing to fulfil its promise of providing 2BHK houses to the poor, Bhatti said the Congress govt was instead offering ₹5 lakh financial assistance to eligible families to construct their own homes. So far, 4.5 lakh houses have been sanctioned across the state.“The state Cabinet on Saturday cleared an additional 2.5 lakh houses. Transforming Telangana into a hut-free state remains the govt’s top priority. Party workers should personally oversee the housewarming ceremonies once construction is completed,” he said.Bhatti further alleged that opposition parties were spreading misinformation on social media because they could not accept the success of the government’s welfare initiatives. He urged Congress workers to counter such campaigns and said pamphlets detailing various schemes would soon be distributed door to door to create awareness among people.
