Hyderabad, October 16: With an intention to fulfil the pre-poll promise made by former chief minister the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the Rosaiah Government today decided to supply of an additional 2 kg of rice per person (under Rs 2-a-kilo rice scheme) to holders of white ration cards from January next in spite of the heavy burden it will place on the State’s exchequer.
The pre-poll promises also include increasing the duration of free power supply from seven to nine hours a day to the agricultural sector from the kharif season. But the government had to postpone its implementation due to a huge gap in the power supply and demand.
As for the supply of an additional 2 kg of rice to white card holders , which was to be implemented from Oct 2, the present government was forced to postpone its implementation in view of the tight financial
condition of the government. Besides, the Centre has given a shock to the state government by imposing a cut in the rice quota under the subsidised rice scheme.
At today’s Cabinet meeting, Rosaiah reportedly told his colleagues that the government would incur an additional burden of about Rs 2,000 crore due to cut in the rice quota for the State. In spite of the financial difficulty, the government will implement the pre-poll promise from next year i.e. January 2010. With regard to ration cards, the chief minister directed the ministers and officials concerned to distribute new ration cards to all eligible families from January 1. At the same time, he called for completion of the exercise to remove duplicate or bogus ration cards prior to issuance of new cards being taken up.
Rosaiah also called for expeditious execution of housing in the flood-hit areas.
–Agencies–