CM meets PM with a long wish list

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday had a luncheon meeting with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

In one-on-one discussions with the Prime Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy made a specific request for increasing the Minimum Support Price for paddy taking into account the scientifically calculated cost of cultivation so that it should be remunerative to farmers. He also reiterated the request to declare both the Polaravam and Pranahitha-Chevella as National Projects since the State has been making repeated requests for this.

The Chief Minister also told the Prime Minister that Andhra Pradesh is confident of a 10 per cent growth rate during the 12th Plan period and cited the recent instance of Knight Frank which ranked Andhra Pradesh among the top 5 manufacturing destinations in the country including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Chief Minister also told the Prime Minister about the forthcoming Global Partnership summit to be held in Hyderabad.

Kiran Kumar Reddy explained about the Indira Jala Prabha scheme launched for irrigating 10 lakh acres of land belonging to the poorest of the poor SC/ST households in conjunction with NABARD-RIDF assistance. He told the Prime Minister that Andhra Pradesh needs Rs.800 Crore under a special MIP project under National Mission on Micro Irrigation (NMMI). He also explained to the Prime Minister about Rs 1-a-kg rice scheme, Skill Development Centre, Rajiv Yuvakiranalu, Stree Nidhi Women's Micro Finance system and zero per cent interest crop loans for farmers.

According to CMO, the Prime Minister who gave a patient hearing patted the Chief Minister for the unique welfare schemes for the farmers, women, students and poorest of the poor and assured to positively consider the Chief Minister's requests.

Other chief ministers including Narendra Modi (Gujarat) Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Tarun Gogoi (Assam) were also present.