Rs. 849-cr. aid sought for drought relief

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 9. Andhra Pradesh has sought Rs. 849-crore assistance from the Centre for carrying out relief works in the drought-hit areas of the State with the Union Government agreeing to release three lakh tonnes of foodgrains free of cost during August and September.

The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, today met the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and apprised him of the severity of the situation in the State where 22 districts have been declared drought-hit.

The Centre said the request would be given due consideration after perusing the experts team's report which toured the drought-affected areas.

Apart from meeting Mr. Vajpayee separately and along with the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana, Mr. Naidu had a host of engagements with Central Ministers, including those of Rural Development, Power, Finance, Environment and Forests and Food and Civil Supplies.

At his meeting with the Rural Development Minister, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Mr. Naidu requested for funds for completion of sanctioned sub-mission projects under the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said his Ministry had already released Rs. 24.28 crores out of pending Rs. 44.03 crores while the rest would be done on receipt of utilisation certificate.

To a request for allocation under the Employment Assurance Scheme, the Minister said Rs. 9.95 crores had been released and in view of the drought, the Ministry was examining the request to release the second instalment in advance.

The Chief Minister sought assistance for the Transmission Corporation's Rs. 1000-crore scheme for segregation of agricultural and domestic power users and for the Rs. 200- crore project for providing capacitors to 20 lakh agricultural motors. It was agreed in principle the Power Finance Corporation would assist the State.

At his meeting with the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr. Sharad Yadav, Mr. Naidu sought permission for providing direct connection between Hyderabad and Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. The State was informed that the foreign airlines seeking to provide such service would have to send proposal to the Centre directly.

The State sought exemptions in tax and custom duty, including that for imported sports equipment, and for construction of cultural complexes, at a meeting with the Finance Minister. On the project on pollution checking in the Musi river, the State Government was asked by the Environment Ministry to submit a detailed report.

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Section  : Southern States
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