New Delhi, December 03: The Centre has positively responded to the request of the State for an additional Rs 6,000 crore Central assistance to take up relief and rehabilitation works, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said here Wednesday.
Addressing reporters after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rosaiah said that the State also wanted the deluge in Krishna river be declared as a “national calamity with rare severity” and requested the Centre to release an additional amount of Rs 6,000 crore under NCCF as advance so as to enable the State Government to take up relief, rehabilitation and restoration works on a war footing.
Rosaiah said that the Centre had already released Rs 500 crore but the preliminary estimate of damages is pegged at Rs 12,225 crore. He also sought an additional Rs 53 crore for the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences.
The Chief Minister also wanted the Prime Minister to restore the above poverty line (APL) rice allocation for the year 2009-10 to the same level of 2007-08 to make uninterrupted supply of rice to the targeted group through PDS.
Responding to the criticism by TDP that the State Government was lenient on Obulapuram Mining issue, Rosaiah made it clear that he is not afraid of anybody and the State Government is doing what it could do legally. He pointed out that State Government had already requested the CBI Enquiry and halted the mining activities.
Maintaining that there was no change in the Congress party’s stand on Telanagna issue, Chief Minister K Rosaiah made it clear that the State Government could do little in this regard since the UPA Government is seized of the matter.
Rosaiah, who appraised Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh separately on the political situation in the State, besides the agitation of Telangana Rastra Samithi, defended arresting KCR. He said that the Government had a duty to protect him. “I spoke to Chandrasekhar Rao and sent two Ministers to talk to him. Any body can continue agitations peacefully and the State Government has to protect the lives and maintain law and order in the State,” he explained.
To a query, Chief Minister downplayed the attack on the camp office of former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury, saying it was not a national issue.
However, he promised action against those behind the incident.
“Naturally a case will be registered against those involved in the attack. Only window panes have been broken. Now-a-days whatever appears on national media tends to become a national issue,” he added.
–Agencies