Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy today held his first Praja Durbar to listen to the grievances of the public amid high expectations from the Congress government which returned to power after nine years.

Held at the newly baptised Jyotirao Phule Bhavan which earlier served as the residence of his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Praja Durbar saw quite a gathering resulting in a long queue and the crowds kept growing long after the chief minister had left for the Secretariat.

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The tradition of holding Praja Durbar was initiated by YS Rajaskhar Reddy who enjoyed massive popularity among the people. It was continued by his successors but was scoffed at by KCR who held that the if the administration was decentralized and ran smoothly there was no need for such an exercise.

Many of the people who came today included farmers and land owners like Abdul Rasheed from Vikarabad, who were yet to get pattadar passbooks containing the details of the land held by them. The introduction of Dharani portal containing the integrated land records led to mistakes and rectifying those in the absence of grievance redressal system had turned into a herculean task.

Dharani was one of the key reasons behind the poll debacle of BRS. Quite a few people, mostly women had come with appeals to allocate a 2BHK house for them. Such was the expectation of the public that a BRS party leader of Rajendranagar came to meet Reddy.

“We were with the BRS from the very beginning but since the MLA had joined the party from the TDP he refused to do anything for us. My brother died by suicide leaving behind small children. We want the Chief Minister to allocate a two BHK for my brother’s widow,” said Yadagiri, the BRS leader.

A large number of Congress supporters were among the crowds standing patiently behind the police barricades. A few young men had come to catch a glimpse of Revanth Reddy, considered a youth icon by many.

“What can be done through these meetings? Nothing happens. I just came to see him,” said one of them, who clearly wanted a tour of the state-of-art building built by KCR at Rs 50 crore.

Expectations from the new government were also sky high, particularly over the poll guarantees. “When are they going to give gas cylinders at Rs500? And Rs 2500 to women,” asked Pandu, an autorickshaw driver who was a little concerned how the free bus travel for women from tomorrow will affect his earnings.

Although the Praja Durbar began at a short notice, the administration had made arrangements for adequate water bottles, golf carts and wheel chairs for the old, infirm and those with physical disability.

However, the BRS leader Krishank posted a visual of people waiting behind the police barricades after Chief Minister left and wrote, “When citizens are given hope by the Supreme and are left out, unheard and rejected, then it will lead to system failure top to down.”

CM miffed with huge losses in Power Department

Even as the Congress government fulfilled its first guarantee of allowing women to travel free in state run buses from tomorrow, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is unhappy with the power situation.

He has refused to accept the resignation of D Prabhakar Rao, CMD of TS Transco and Genco, the power utilities. The Power Department is said to have run up losses of Rs 85,000 cr. The Chief Minister held a meeting with key officials and ministers today and has scheduled another review meeting tomorrow in which he asked officials to bring Prabhakar Rao as well.