Not houses for gods need shelters for the houseless
The Minister for Endowments, Konda Surekha has said in a statement that a website was being developed to enable NRIs to make contributions for development of the temples of their choice in the State.
On the other hand, their national party leader Rahul Gandhi says that BJP is using Rama and Rama temple in Ayodhya as a vote catcher.
There is a temple in every village and there are temples in every Street of Hyderabad. Ther are in fact more temples in the State than schools. On the day of every major festival, the temple governing bodies conduct programs using high volume loudspeakers that disturb the sick old people, infants, the students studying for the examinations and the IT professionals working at home seriously on products that improve the productivity of the state and increase the exports of IT services which is one of the major contributor for exports in the country.
This website contains a news highlighting how certain NRI docters came together to help the truly needy people in education, health and other such areas helpful to the common man.
Therefore, it is my considered opinion that such a website should be created inviting NRIs, not to contribute for the temple development but for construction of houses, creation of jobs, improvement of sanitation and skill development and many such areas which will help the people to lead a dignified life particularly in the light of the fact that ILO has recently warned about the dangerous levels of unemployment in the country.
Just imagine how many pakka houses would have been available with Rs. 1200 crore wasted on the Vedadri temple. The BRS govt planned 2 lakh houses with a budget of Rs.10000 crores. With the money spent on Vedadry temple, it could have built at least one tenth of 2 lakhs houses i.e twenty thousand houses. For such irrational spending of tax money, BRS has already paid the price. Let not the Congress follow such a suicidal path.
The Congress party leaders should not forget the precarious condition of its finances and should desist from any such sentimental spending in competition with BJP. While seeking help from the NRIs is a step in the right direction, their contributions should be used to complement the State's developmental activities in a more responsible and rational manner that will attract the people to vote for the Congress not to the temples where they will only be spending their hard earned money for uncertain boons therefrom.
In South India, people's voting prefernces are not swayed by such non productive policies like in the North. Let the government not reduce the social conscious levels of the State to those of the cow belt.
Dr M H Prasad Rao
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