The Hindu : Rosaiah terms TDP claims conflicting

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 25, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Rosaiah terms TDP claims conflicting

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 24. K. Rosaiah, chief spokesperson of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), on Wednesday said the Telugu Desam Government was coming up with conflicting claims on the amount spent on irrigation and the area brought under cultivation.

Addressing a press conference, he said the Major Irrigation Minister, claimed that during the last nine years of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) rule, Rs. 10,026 crores was spent bringing an additional acreage of 17,59,000 acres. But in the book, `100 months of Telugu Desam rule', the figure given was Rs. 8,059 crores and 12,35,000 acres. Then in the Government's own Economic Survey report, it was mentioned that there has been reduction in the area under irrigation by 95,000 hectares between the 1994 and 2002.

He charged the Government with misusing the Information and Public Relations (IPR) Department funds for printing TDP literature and demanded an enquiry into it. The department was hiring a private printer for publishing its monthly, Andhra Pradesh. Though it claimed to print one-lakh copies and released funds accordingly, the actual number of copies printed was 20,000. The remaining funds were utilised for printing party literature, which was illegal, he alleged.

Mr. Rosaiah said for all the talk of welfare of weaker sections, the Government has not released scholarship amount for 2.7 lakh Backward Class students for this academic year, though the amount worked out to a mere Rs. 80 crores. He sought that the amount be released immediately.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh