Hyderabad, November 18: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah has made it clear that his Government is committed to implementing the poll promises made by the Congress, official sources said.
Interacting with state MPs ahead of the winter session of Parliament yesterday, Mr Rosaiah put the onus on them to get the rice quota from the Centre enhanced under the Rs two-a-kg scheme from four kg to six kg per person.
The Centre had expressed its inability to enhance quantum of subsidised rice in view of foodgrain shortage and additional cost involved. It also wanted the deduplication of ration cards to be completed for assessing the state’s requirements, he claimed.
”We require an additional 1.75 lakh tonnes of rice with 3.50 lakh quintals being provided by the Centre at an average cost of Rs 8.65 per kg for enhancing the quota from four kg per person to six kg.” He impressed upon the MPS from various parties that ”restoration of Above Poverty Line (APL) rice allocation for 2009-10 to the same level as 2007-08 remains our core agenda.”
Congress MP from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy questioned the State Government for enhancing the duration of free power supply from seven hours to nine hours. Even as Mr Reddy opined that if the decision to allow independent power producers (IPPs) to sell 20 per cent of power generation made by them in the market was withdrawn, the free power supply to peasants could be enhanced, Mr Rosaiah pointed out that the decision had been taken when his predecessor YSR Reddy was the Chief Minister.
The young Congress MP maintained that the party would lose its credibility if it failed to implement its poll promises.
Mr Rosaiah explained that power shortage being witnessed in the state was due to snags in the 500 MW Vijayawada Thermal Power Station Expansion project and 900 MW hydel power station in Srisailam. It was purchasing power from other states at a higher cost to provide free power to peasants for seven hours.
He urged the MPs to press the Centre for allotment of 9.5 mm SCMD of gas for 3 x 700 MW Karimnagar power project, allotment of coal linkage for various thermal power stations and allocation of coal blocks to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited.
—–Agencies