NEW DELHI: The Andhra Pradesh Government has urged for Rs. 3,516-crore assistance to carry out relief operations and repair damages caused by rain and floods in parts of the State and early clearance of the Rs. 51,000-crore special package to address the problems of farmers.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and informed him that floods due to rise in levels of Vamsadhara, Nagavali, Godavari and Krishna rivers had affected over 2.76 lakh families in 6,509 villages and damaged standing crops in 2.19 lakh hectares.

Housing for victims

Dr. Reddy also sought an additional assistance of Rs. 1000 crores to strengthen flood protection bunds along the Godavari and other major rivers in the State and Rs. 100 crore for construction of four lakh houses in the affected areas under Indira Awas Yojana.

He urged the Prime Minister to announce expeditiously the Vidarbha-type package for 16 districts in the State where incidence of farmers' suicides were high. In this regard, Dr. Reddy requested the Prime Minister to include in the package irrigation projects, which have received at least one clearance from the Centre. Dr. Reddy also drew Dr. Singh's attention to the fact that while the Tariff Commission had submitted its report on transportation charges for gas supplied to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the State, the Gas Authority of India was not implementing the recommendations. He requested the Prime Minister's Office to convene a meeting with the officials of Ministry of Petroleum to sort out the issue and also to come up with a time-bound plan for supply of gas to power projects in Andhra Pradesh that are facing severe shortages.

The Chief Minister informed the Prime Minister that the State intended to participate in the exploration of oil and natural gas in the Krishna Godavari basin and requested the Centre to reserve 50 per cent of exploration blocks for Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation, a State owned public sector undertaking.

Dr. Reddy also requested the Prime Minister to expedite announcement of the Centre's policy on semiconductor fabrication units, listing the incentives it seeks to offer to investors. He also urged the Centre to modify guidelines of the rural employment scheme to benefit the beneficiaries of housing schemes for the poor.

Delegation

Later along with a delegation, he urged the Centre to clear at the earliest a proposal to set up a Commission to examine the categorisation of Scheduled Castes, which had been struck down by the Supreme Court. The delegation included Nandi Yellaiah, MP, Mallu Ravi, State Government's special representative, Vara Prasad, MLA, and Madiga Krishna, a leader of Madiga community.

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