GUNTUR: Minister for Transport Kanna Lakshmi Narayana on Tuesday exhorted women not to resort to taking loans at exorbitant rates of interest from the micro-finance companies and make use of the Government's `Pavala Vaddi' scheme.

The scheme provides loans at 25 paise interest per month, he said and wanted them to come together into groups to begin savings so that their group could be helped with finance under the scheme. During the Praja Patham programme at Kunchenapalli village in Tadepalli mandal, he said the micro-finance companies had totally destroyed the village economy in Guntur, Prakasam and Krishna district.

The Congress Government had fulfilled majority of its pre-poll promises like providing free power and giving ration cards. Farmers at the meeting told the Minister that majority of them in the Mangalagiri Assembly constituency depended on the horticulture crops and were away from the village for marketing their produce and came back only during daytime to their fields, so they needed power supply during that time.

The Minister promised them to look into the possibility by cross checking with the APTransco officials. He said that fixing of capacitors would help the Government give more power to farmers.

The focus was on housing and in the first two years of coming to power the Government had constructed 6 lakh and 7 lakh houses respectively in the two years. During the Indiramma programme that would be launched on May 7 housing in those selected 33 per cent villages in each mandal would be launched, he added.

Pulichintala multi-purpose project and Tail Pond would to be completed very soon fulfilling all the irrigation needs of delta region and stabilising the existing ayacut, he said. Praja Patham would focus mainly on mitigating the drinking water problems, he observed.

VGTMUDA Chairman Malladi Vishnu also attended the programme.

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