The Hindu : National : 10 p.c. growth rate in "near future"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 27, 2006
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10 p.c. growth rate in "near future"

K. Venkateshwarlu

We can remove poverty: Manmohan

MAHBUBNAGAR (Andhra Pradesh): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday expressed the hope that the country would touch the magic figure of 10 per cent growth rate in the "near future."

Dr. Singh said India was developing at a rapid pace and a growth rate of 8-9 per cent, considered not feasible a few years ago, became possible now. "With such rapid growth it is our expectation that in the coming 10 to 20 years, we will be in a position to remove the ancient scourges of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment from our country."

He was addressing a large public meeting after laying the foundation for the four-laning of the Nagpur-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Bangalore sections of the National Highway 7 at Kothakota, about 30 km from here. This 263 km stretch in Andhra Pradesh, forming part of the North-South Corridor, is being built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at a cost of Rs. 1,738 crore on a public private partnership (PPP) basis.

Describing the National Highway 7 connecting Nagpur via Hyderabad to Bangalore as "an extremely important highway," Dr. Singh emphasised the need for the nation today to go in for "first-rate infrastructure."

The Prime Minister earlier presented bank linkage cheques worth Rs. 52 crores to self-help groups and visited photo exhibition stalls relating to irrigation projects, the Indiramma programme and drought mitigation initiatives.

Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T.R. Baalu said the UPA Government had substantially expanded the scope of the National Highways development programme by including an additional 35,000 km of national highways and other roads into its fold.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said it was the vision shown by AICC president Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister in launching the National Employment Guarantee Programme that helped check migration of a large number of farm labourers from the perennially drought-hit Mahbubnagar district.

Union Minister of Urban Development S. Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, K.H. Muniyappa and Mahbubnagar MP, D. Vittal Rao, spoke. Union Minister, T. Subbirami Reddy, A.P. Congress Committee president K. Keshav Rao and State Labour Minister G. Vinod were present.

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