Telangana to start caste survey from Nov 4-5, complete by Nov 30: Minister

The Telangana government is expected to commence a caste survey in the state from November 4-5 and it is likely to be completed by November 30, Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has said.

Prabhakar was addressing the media on Saturday after a cabinet meeting during which a proforma for the caste survey was approved.

He said the exercise is being taken up in line with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's commitment to conduct a caste survey in the state as well as across the nation.

Prabhakar said 80,000 government employees will be roped in for conducting the survey and they will be appropriately trained for it.

According to a resolution passed by the Telangana Assembly, the state cabinet has approved the proforma for the caste survey which is expected to be completed by November 30. The actual enumeration, covering every household, is likely to start from November 4 or 5, he said.

All the data collected will be kept in public domain, he said.

Revenue Minister P Srinivas Reddy said the cabinet also decided that 3,500 houses will be constructed for the poorest of the poor in each of the 119 assembly constituencies.

A day or two after Diwali, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy will launch the Indiramma Housing programme, he said.

The Hyderabad Metro Rail network will be expanded by approximately 76.4 km on five routes involving an expenditure of over Rs 24,000 crore under the PPP model as a joint venture between state and central governments, he said.

In the cabinet meeting, it was also decided to develop a road network in the state under the PPP model. For this, a committee with senior officials will be formed to study the models in other states, Reddy said.

According to Reddy, the road network improvement is expected to cost between Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 28,000 crore in the next four years.