KCR reviews preparations for Budget session

Hyderabad, Oct 28 (INN): In order to facilitate more discussions on the issues concerning people, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has suggested that the forthcoming budget session of the State Legislative Assembly have evening sessions on all days and Assembly should also function on Saturdays.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday held a meeting with Legislative Affairs Minister T Harish Rao, Assembly Secretary S Raja Sadaram, Special Secretary to CM S Narsing Rao to review the preparations for the budget session starting from November 5. The budget session is likely to last for a month.

Finance Minister Etela Rajender will present the first ever budget of Telangana State on the first day of the session on November 5. Deputy Chief Minister Dr T Rajaiah will present the budget in Legislative Council. There will be no session on November 6 to facilitate the members to study the budget.

Discussions on budget will be held for three days from November 7 onwards. It will be followed by discussions on Demands for Grants for different departments. As many as 40 Heads of Accounts have been classified into five groups and there will discussion on each group on daily basis.

It has also been decided to fix one-hour time for Question Hour on the lines of Parliament. The Zero Hour will be allowed on every alternate day while on the other day, the legislators will be allowed to present proposals related to their respective constituencies. Each party would be allocated time based on their strength in the Legislative Assembly and Council.

Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma and Assembly Secretary Raja Sadaram will hold another meeting on Wednesday to discuss the preparations.

These proposals will be discussed and finalised in the meeting of Business Advisory Committee.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has allocated different subjects to his Cabinet colleagues for discussions in the House. They are: Nayani Narasimha Reddy - Law & Order; Etela Rajender - BC, SC, ST Welfare and Endowments; Mahmood Ali - Minorities Welfare; Dr T Rajaiah - Sports, Youth, Culture & Tourism; Pocharam Srinivas Reddy - Municipal Administration & Urban Development; T Harish Rao - Energy; Mahender Reddy - Commercial Taxes; KT Ramarao - Labour & Textiles; Jogu Ramanna - Environment, Science & Technology; Jagadeshwar Reddy - Women's Welfare & Justice and T Padma Rao - Roads & Buildings.