Rs. 1200 Crore For Racha Banda

Former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy´s pet program ´Racha Banda´, which was out of the purview of its intended beneficiaries till recently, is to be revived and organized from January 24th to February 12th, with a commitment of spending Rs. 1,200 crores in all, for the benefit of farmers and weaker sections of the society.

Speaking to media persons at the state government secretariat on Thursday, Minister For Housing Kanna Lakshminarayana stated that the state government had decided to release the amount, but Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was yet to decide the launching venue.

Lakshminarayana was briefing the press after a review meeting on the subject with the Chief Minister, where he said that the program would be attended by the constituency MLA and the officials concerned, to oversee the implementation of the schemes under Racha Banda.

Abhaya Hastham, Rajiv Arogyasri, housing for weaker sections, Pavala Vaddi, pensions, NREGS cards and AADHAR cards issue will figure in the proposed program.

The issue of AADHAR cards was likely to be delayed by 3 months due to certain anomalies in the voters´ list, and so the government had proposed to issue temporary cards in its place to provide benefits to the beneficiaries, the minister said.

SC/ST groups and women will be enrolled under Abhaya Hastham.

The old GO 171 had specified that the construction of 4.74 lakh houses was pending, which will now be taken up under Racha Banda to the extent of sanctioning amounts for the basement level constructions.

The NREGS will facilitate issue of cards and increase of payment from Rs. 100 to Rs. 120 to the beneficiaries.

Groups which were to receive loans under Pavala Vaddi to the extent of Rs. 450 crores during 2010 have been kept waiting. These will now be taken up as part of Racha Banda.

Asked about the political situation, the minister criticised the views expressed by Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu, and cornered him for ditching farmers and for stoppage of ex gratia to the kin of those who committed suicide.

Lakshminarayana sarcastically charged Naidu with simply shedding crocodile tears for farmers and doing nothing for their welfare. He also pointed out that thousands of farmers were jailed under his rule.

Asked about the political stability in the light of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy´s statement, the minister replied that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government would rule till 2014.

Courtesy: INN