... Yet Why Does Revanth Reddy Government Look Different?

I am not a supporter of Congress. I have never been one of those people who blindly praise a party only because it is their favourite. If a government does wrong, it should be criticised. If it does something right, it should also be acknowledged.

And whether one likes Congress or not, one has to admit that the present government under Revanth Reddy appears to be taking some steps which look less like political drama and more like practical governance.

For years, people in Telangana were told that development means giant cut-outs, huge meetings, endless publicity and free schemes announced every few months. But quietly, beneath all that noise, the burden on the state treasury kept increasing.

The government borrowed. Then borrowed again. Public land slowly disappeared. Lakes vanished. Footpaths disappeared. Government offices ran in private buildings while the state kept paying rent year after year.

The question is simple:

If the government already owns land and buildings, why should crores of rupees every year go into the pockets of private landlords?

Government Offices in Private Buildings – Why?

For years, hundreds of government offices functioned in private buildings. The state treasury paid rent every month. Crores upon crores disappeared every year.

Now the government has passed a G.O. saying that government offices, associations linked to the government and even institutions connected with the treasury should shift out of private buildings and function only in government-owned properties.

This is perhaps one of the most practical decisions taken in years.

Why should the government spend hundreds of crores every year on rent when it already owns land and buildings?

Why should taxpayers' money be used to enrich a few landlords while government buildings remain unused, half-constructed or abandoned?

If a middle-class family is in debt, does it rent a luxury house while leaving its own house empty?

Then why should the government do so?

For years we have heard governments say there is no money.

• No money for roads.
• No money for schools.
• No money for hospitals.
• No money for pensions.

Yet somehow there was always money to pay rent.

If this policy is implemented honestly, it can reduce a major burden on the treasury.

But the real question is:

Will the government apply this rule equally to all departments, corporations, boards and associations, or will some powerful offices quietly continue in private buildings because of political connections?

HYDRA and Lake Encroachments – The Real Reason Hyderabad Is Flooding

Many people say and even from my personal experience Hyderabad never used to flood like this before.

That is true.

Before 2014, there were rains. There were waterlogging issues in some places. But today, entire colonies get submerged. Roads become rivers. Cars float away. Homes get filled with water.

Why?

Did the rain suddenly become the problem?

Or did greed become the problem?

• For years, lakes were encroached.
• FTL limits were ignored.
• Nalas were narrowed.
• Builders sold plots on lake beds.
• Apartments were constructed where water once flowed.
• Powerful people occupied government land.

Then when floods came, everyone acted surprised.

• How can water disappear when the lake disappears?
• Where will rainwater go when nalas are occupied?
• How will a city survive if every lake becomes a layout and every drainage path becomes a commercial complex?

That is why HYDRA is important.

For the first time in years, there is at least some attempt to protect rivers, lakes, nalas and FTL limits.

Some people complain that HYDRA is harsh.

But what is harsher?

Removing an illegal structure today?

Or allowing lakhs of people to suffer every monsoon because someone illegally occupied a lake?

The truth is simple:

If lakes had been protected earlier, Hyderabad would not be facing the floods it sees today.

Ground water level would have not been so low if FTL was protected and lakes were protected.

And the bigger question is:

Will HYDRA stop only with small encroachments?

Or will it dare touch the big builders, political leaders and influential people who occupied acres of lake land?

Because people have seen this pattern before.

• The poor man's hut is demolished in one day.
• The rich man's illegal building survives for twenty years.

If HYDRA wants public trust, it must act equally.

Food Adulteration – Why Was Everyone Silent Until Now?

For years, people have eaten adulterated food without even knowing it.

• Fake milk.
• Chemical colours.
• Adulterated spices.
• Expired products.
• Artificial ripening.
• Cheap and fake ghee. 
• Cheap oil sold as pure oil.

People slowly accepted it as normal.

Why?

Because there was no fear.

The FSSAI existed. Food safety departments existed. Laws existed.

But where was enforcement?

Now there appears to be some seriousness. The government is trying to make the food safety machinery active. Raids are happening. Adulterated products are being checked. A special police team and effort has also been created to crack down on fake and unsafe food.

This should have happened years ago.

What is was use of strict laws if they remain only on paper?

What is was use of an FSSAI licence if people can still openly sell poison in the name of food? Before this government.

Why should ordinary citizens always suffer while officials look away?

If a poor man sells something without licence, action is taken immediately.

Then why do big companies and large traders escape even after endangering the health of lakhs of people?

Drug Mafia – Can a State Grow if Its Youth Are Being Destroyed?

The decision to create a special force against drug mafia is also important.

Many people pretend that drugs are not a serious issue in Telangana. But anyone who sees what is happening in colleges, pubs, parties and even schools knows the reality.

Drugs do not destroy only one person.

• They destroy families.
• They destroy futures.
• They increase crime.
• They weaken society.

The question is:

Will the government stop only with catching small peddlers?

Or will it go after the real network – the suppliers, financiers, political protectors and influential people behind the drug trade?

Because every drug racket survives only because someone powerful protects it.

Until those people are exposed, the problem will continue.

Footpath Encroachments – Does the Common Man Have No Right to Walk?

In Hyderabad today, footpaths exist only in name.

• Shops occupy them.
• Vehicles are parked on them.
• Stalls are placed on them.
• Illegal constructions block them.

As a result, the common man is forced to walk on the road. Then accidents happen. Then the same authorities say citizens should follow rules. But where should people walk?

• On the road?
• Inside the drain?
• In the air?

The High Court asking the government to submit reports on footpath encroachments is a positive sign.

But reports alone are not enough.

• How many reports have been submitted over the years?
• How many committees were formed?
• How many promises were made?

Yet the footpaths remain occupied.

If the government is serious, it should remove encroachments permanently.

• Not for one week.
• Not only before court hearings.
• Not only in VIP areas.

Because a city is not judged by how its ministers travel. It is judged by how safely an ordinary citizen can walk.

Government Hospital in Goshamahal – Building Something Instead of Only Announcing

For years, governments mastered one art – announcement.

• Announce a hospital.
• Announce a college.
• Announce a road.
• Announce a scheme.

Then after elections, everything disappears.

That is why the move to establish a government hospital in Goshamahal is important.

A state cannot run only on private hospitals.

What happens to the poor man who cannot afford lakhs of rupees for treatment? What happens to the middle class family that sells jewellery, land and savings just to pay hospital bills? If the government builds strong public hospitals, it reduces the burden on the common man.

The real need is not more speeches. The real need is more hospitals, more doctors and more functioning infrastructure.

Debt, Treasury and the Difference Between Welfare and Waste

Telangana today is under heavy debt.

A large part of the state income goes into salaries, pensions, interest and repayment of old loans.

The present government is trying to pay the loans taken earlier rather than simply taking more loans and pushing the problem into the future.

That is the difference between governance and politics.

Politics says:
Take another loan.
Announce another scheme.
Win another election.

Governance says:
Reduce waste.
Pay debt.
Save money.
Use it properly.

At least for now, the government does not appear eager to sell public land simply to distribute free schemes.

That itself is a major difference.

Because once public land is sold, it is gone forever.

A government can earn money again.
But it cannot recreate lakes, public land and open spaces once they are lost.

Free Bus for Women – Good Intention, Heavy Burden

The free bus scheme for women is perhaps the one welfare measure that most people support emotionally.

It helps women travel for work.
It helps students.
It helps poor families.
It gives freedom to many who earlier depended on others.

So the intention is good.

But intentions alone do not run a treasury.

The RTC is already under pressure.
The state is already under debt.

Then the question is:

Can the government continue such schemes without pushing RTC deeper into losses?

Can it create a system where the poor are helped but the treasury is not destroyed?

Because if the treasury collapses, then in the future even good schemes cannot continue.

The Final Question

Today many people who are not supporters of Congress still feel that this government is at least trying to do something different:

Reduce unnecessary expenditure.
Stop wasteful rent.
Protect lakes and FTL areas.
Act against food adulteration.
Fight drug mafia.
Remove encroachments.
Build public infrastructure.
Pay old loans instead of blindly taking new ones.
But one question remains.

Will this government continue these actions when they affect powerful builders, rich encroachers, politically connected landlords, drug networks and influential people?

Or will these rules remain only for the ordinary citizen while the powerful continue to live above the law, as they always have?

The Biggest Question – Will Any Government Dare to Make Education Truly Equal?

There is one reform bigger than all free schemes.

Bigger than free electricity.
Bigger than free travel.
Bigger than cash distribution.

And that is:

Free and equal education.

Not education only on paper.
Not education where poor children study in broken schools while rich children study in air-conditioned campuses.
Not education where one child learns coding and robotics while another child sits under a leaking roof.

Real equal education.

The question is:

Will this government ever dare to do what governments in places like Delhi attempted in parts of education reform or what countries like Nepal tried in strengthening public education access?

Will any Indian government truly make government schools so strong that even ministers, IAS officers, businessmen, judges, MLAs and rich people proudly send their children there?

Because the day a Chief Minister's child and a peon's child sit in the same classroom, the education system will automatically improve.

Then classrooms will improve.
Then toilets will improve.
Then teachers will improve.
Then accountability will improve.

Because powerful people never tolerate poor quality for themselves.

But today what is happening?

Thousands of private schools everywhere.
Huge fees.
Admission business.
Donation business.
Book business.
Uniform business.
Transport business.

Education has become an industry.

The poor man struggles.
The middle class suffers silently.
Parents take loans.
Families sacrifice savings.

And still children face pressure, competition and inequality.

Why should quality education depend on how much money a parent has?

Why should a child suffer because he was born poor?

If education truly creates equality, then why are governments allowing two separate systems?

One education system for the rich.
Another for the poor.

Can a country ever become truly equal like this?

The same applies to hospitals.

The best thing any government can do is not distributing endless temporary freebies before elections.

The best thing a government can do is:

Free quality education for all.
Free quality healthcare for all.
Equal infrastructure for all.
Irrespective of caste, religion, creed or economic background.

Because once education and healthcare become strong, people themselves can rise.

A poor man does not want charity forever.
He wants opportunity.
He wants dignity.
He wants a fair system.

And perhaps the biggest question India must ask itself today is:

If countries with fewer resources can strengthen public schools and public healthcare, then why is India still pushing ordinary citizens toward expensive private schools and private hospitals?

Why should basic education become a business?
Why should healthcare become a luxury?

And if governments can spend lakhs of crores on schemes, elections, publicity and political battles, then why can they not build one truly equal education system for every child in the country?