HYDERABAD: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had a luncheon meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday along with chief ministers Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Tarun Gogoi (Assam). The chief minister utilised the occasion to urge the prime minister to increase the minimum support price for paddy by taking into account the scientifically calculated cost of cultivation so that it should be remunerative to farmers. Kiran Kumar also reminded Manmohan Singh of his request to declare both the Polavaram and Pranahita-Chevella national projects since the state is keen to complete them at the earliest, an official press release said.The chief minister also told the prime minister that Andhra Pradesh was confident of achieving 10 per cent growth rate during the 12th Plan period and cited the recent ranking of Knight Frank which mentioned Andhra Pradesh among the top five manufacturing destinations in the country, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. He also told the prime minister that the forthcoming Global Partnership Summit would be held in Hyderabad.He explained the Indira Jala Prabha scheme launched by the state government to irrigate 10 lakh acres of land belonging to the poorest of the poor SC/ST farmers in conjunction with NABARD-RIDF assistance. The chief minister said Andhra Pradesh needs Rs 800 crore under a special MIP of National Mission on Micro Irrigation (NMMI).The state government’s new initiatives of Rs 1-a-kg rice scheme, Skill Development Centres, Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu, Stree Nidhi Women’s Micro Finance system and crop loans for farmers at zero per cent interest rate were also mentioned by the chief minister.
Comments
0 comment