Naidu to take up drought aid with PM

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, AUG. 7. Three lakh tonnes of rice has been sanctioned to the State under `food-for-work' and this will be distributed in the drought-affected areas. Under the employment generation programme each person would be given 5 kg of rice and Rs.30 as wages per day, according to the Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said this would be distributed at the rate of 1.5 lakh tonnes per month for August and September. The cash component would be from the calamity fund.

Mr.Naidu said he would be visiting Delhi on August 9 and 10, and he would take up the drought issue with the Prime Minister, Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, and seek funds. The Central team, which is here, will be visiting six districts, he said.

All departments had been asked to involve in relief activity.The District Development and Review Committee had been asked to hold meetings. Paper advertisements would be given and notices displayed in gram panchayats on all relief measures.

He said though there was rain now, the situation had not improved in many mandals, and water level in most reservoirs like Nagarjuna Sagar, Nizamsagar and Sriramsagar had not improved much.

There was very little inflow.As a result crop coverage would be on 41 lakh hectares as against 83 lakh hectares normally. This year paddy was being taken up in 8 lakh hectares only against 27 lakh hectares normally. Similarly, groundnut was on 8.6 lakh hectares against 16 lakh hectares.

Yeleru scam

On criticism by Congress-I over winding up of the judicial probe into the Yeleru scam, Mr.Naidu said it was `politically motivated'. It was the TDP which raised the issue and his Government took action. Giving details of the steps taken during the last four to five years, he said so far Rs.12.27-crore Government money had been frozen.

Some Government money had been retrieved and it will continue to fight to recover the entire money.Action had also been taken against some officials, and land acquisition procedures had been streamlined to prevent recurrence.

All possible steps had been taken, and there was no question of Government not taking action against any officials. In fact, seeing another newspaper report of a land acquisition scandal in Vizag today, the Government immediately suspended three persons and initiated a CB-CID action.

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