Disburse stipend for jobless too: Eatala

The former minister cut short his Praja Deevena Yatra after falling sick

Former Health minister Eatala Rajender has demanded that the TRS government begin implementing the election promise of disbursing unemployment stipend of ₹3,116 each to eligible beneficiaries across Telangana just as it had been doing by issuing ration cards, farmers’ loans waiver, ‘Dalit Bandhu’ cash benevolence of ₹10 lakh and others with alacrity in the backdrop of the much-anticipated byelection to the Huzurabad constituency. “All the promises made as a prelude to the 2018 general elections have been forgotten for the last three years but Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has suddenly decided to implement them for which I am happy. I demand that other assurances also be taken up in similar spirit and provide benefits to the poor irrespective of caste,” he said, at a press conference, following his discharge from a corporate hospital on Thursday. Mr. Rajender had to cut short his ‘Praja Deevena Yatra’ — walkathon for people’s blessings — abruptly a few days ago after he fell sick and he successfully underwent a knee operation and was treated for fever and cold too. “The government has already spent close to ₹150 crore of disbursements in the guise of various schemes in an effort to lure voters. Everyone knows Mr. Rao has no love for people but for their votes,” he charged.